HEALTH ADVICE
already, you can insist that it implements its anti-bullying policy (ask to see this document if you want to) but in the end, you have to trust the school to do its job, unless there is sufficient evidence for a formal complaint. The most beneficial thing you can do as a parent of a child being bullied is to make your child more assertive. Not by advising them to ‘give as good as they get’, but by helping them to develop confidence and self-esteem and to use firm but non-aggressive techniques for responding to bullying behaviour. There is a lot of useful advice on the Kidscape website, including a downloadable leaflet on assertiveness for children.
www.kidscape.org.uk
JUNK FOOD ADDICT
Q
My 16-year-old son is addicted to junk food. He
isn’t exactly fat (he plays lots of rugby and cricket), but he is well-built, and his skin is awful. He spends all his pocket money on crisps, cheesy snacks and chocolate. I’ve tried talking to him about his future health and the risk of heart disease, and I’ve asked his housemaster to keep an eye on things, but what else can I do? He just tells me to stop ‘going on about it’.
Amanda, Dorset
A
Victoria Lambert: You
have my sympathy:
food is a battleground for
THE ACADEMIC CONSULTANT
David Messer is Professor of Child Development and Learning at The Open
University.and academic adviser to the BBC1‘s
Child of Our Time. His specialist
interest is the development of children’s thinking and language.
many families. Parents sway between worrying that their children aren’t eating enough to fearing that they will become part of the childhood obesity explosion, setting down bad habits that could lead to heart disease and diabetes in the future. Our worries used to focus exclusively on girls but now boys’ eating habits are also of concern. Part of the problem is the
type of food and its easy availability today. While we salivated over the occasional Wagon Wheel biscuit, today’s youth are bombarded with messages exhorting them to drink or eat addictively tasty food. Snacking is commonplace and food manufacturers engineer their products to make them so easy to digest that children – always hungry anyway – never feel satisfied.
Lucy Jones: Adolescence is a time where health and nutrition is often not high on the agenda, so talking about future disease risks doesn’t resonate with teenagers as it is too far off. However there are ways to help your son. Try to get him thinking about the effect of his nutrition on what does interest him, like keeping spots at bay and improving his sporting performance. Ask the school to invite
a sports nutritionist to talk about how to optimise sports performance or arrange a
visit from a local freelance dietician. Rugby and cricket are both sports which require endurance and speed so good nutrition is vital, with a diet high in complex carbohydrates, plenty of protein for muscle growth and antioxidants to help recover and repair after sport, in addition to optimal hydration. Snacking to compensate for his activity will leave him
hungry and encourage him to turn to ‘junk’ to satisfy his cravings which will exacerbate energy slumps at certain points in the day. For information on sport and diet, refer to fact sheets on the Sports Dieticians website, as well as food facts on the BDA website for information on skin health and fuel for sport.
www.sportsdietitians.com.au www.bda.uk.com %
Our First Eleven panelists invite you to email your questions to:
editor@firstelevenmagazine.co.uk
HOMEWORK BLUES
it is time to do homework. I know he is bright, so is it naughtiness – or is he unable to do homework for another reason?
Jane, Wimbledon
Q A
Jo Petty: Homework
comes at the wrong end
of the day for everyone, so I do have some sympathy. We’re all too tired for it, so have some sympathy for him. In saying that, only you will really know whether he is simply being lazy (and you’re not being firm enough with him) or if he genuinely can’t cope – perhaps because he isn’t able to gather enough information at school during the day in order to do the prep that follows. I’d talk
My eight-year-old son plays up like mad when
to his teachers. You may find he has been ‘flagged up’ at school as having a potential learning disorder (dyslexia, for example) and that the school are already watching him with a view to talking to you. If they are not watching him, ask them to start observing him closely – and then report back to you in three weeks with a plan. Maybe he needs specific therapeutic help, or simply being allowed to do homework in the morning when he’s fresher. Talk to the school, form
a plan, then stick to it. And don’t forget you have to be organised too – that means beginning prep as soon as you get home – not allowing a few hours to drift by first. Good luck.
THE SPECIAL NEEDS EXPERT
Jo Petty is Director of the Dyslexia Teaching Centre in London and has more than 30 years of experience with dyslexia and other learning difficulties.
THE CHILD PSYCHOLOGIST
Amanda Gummer specialises in
children and families. She is an Associate Lecturer for The Open University. She is also Director of the FUNdamentals Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation to promote child development.
WWW.FIRSTELEVENMAGAZINE.CO.UK
SUMMER 2010 FIRST ELEVEN 63
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