Parents Cafe » Responsible parenting

Food companies web sites trying to entice children

Alan — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 03:24:03 +0000

Many food companies such as Cadbury, Kelloggs, Rowntree, and more have set up their websites to be filled with cartoon characters, free games, and videos in an attempt to lure children onto their websites where they can advertise to them. In addition, these retailers also use their Twitter and Facebook accounts to lure children into their websites and to see their products. This has caused controversy from many charity groups who claim that the companies should not be able to market children junk food online when they are not allowed to so during children’s television programming.

Ministers have already drawn controversy on the subject by allowing many food companies that produce junk food to sit on committees that have the sole intent on deciding public health regulations which has led many doctors to protest. According to television regulations, TV adverts that portray foods high in sugar, salt, or fat cannot be shown during kids’ television programming, however online the same rules do not apply.

Now the Children’s Food Campaign and the British Heart Foundation are asking for online regulations to be tightened stating that the companies are using techniques to lure children into their websties that they cannot perceive as advertising. The report stated that companies are using regulatory gaps to their favour in order to reach children outside of the television format and that online marketing is more valuable allowing them to create a lifestyle image that promotes poor nutritional diet habits to children. Therefore, children are still getting the same messages that legislation has been created to protect them from.

Websites that have been targeted for criticism include Kellog’s Krave cereal, Chupa Chups, Rowntree, Nesquik, Capri-Sun, Cadbury Buttons and more. Over three quarters of those websites offer high salt, fat, or sugar food items that have pages on Twitter or Facebook. Given the fact that children can like a product and then the like is displayed to their friends Facebook is especially concerning to the charities who are worried that peer pressure will lead kids into thinking that the unhealthy foods are popular and trendy choices.

Researchers that took part in the report chose to sign up and receive emails from Sugar Puffs in order to see what children have access to. Those who sign up are only asked to verify they are over 16, which a child can easily do by clicking yes to gaining access to the information contained within.

On the Cadbury Buttons website there is an animated character that can actually be made to look like a child by changing the features and name of the child. The website asks adults to verify their age by entering a birthday, but once again a child could just pick one of the options at will.

This trend is the same for many of the websites in the study prompting concerns from researchers who stated that children can easily access the marketing of the websites without any real knowledge that they are being influenced to think one way or another about the junk food items. Researchers claim that this no doubt makes marketers happy since they must be aware that they are protected, but that children are still accessing their websites and seeing their products on full display.

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Blending families is not an easy task

Alan — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 11:58:44 +0000

The modern day step family is now referred to as a blended family, but blending families together is never an easy task, and there are the invariable common conflicts to contend with. Most of these occur between the parents who are trying to blend their respective children’s lives together, and the most common one is where one parent is upset because they feel as if the other is taking the side of their own offspring whenever problems occur.

What many seem to forget is that when there is a blended family, the children suddenly have two different kinds of parent. They will have their biological parent as well as the step parent. If their other parent also remarries, that gives them two separate blended families so it is little wonder that they play up at times and test the ground to see if the same boundaries are in place in each family.

Another thing to remember is that love and respect grows over time, you can’t expect it to be instant, and the happiest blended families have more than likely taken a long time to develop. Think about it this way, you have taken time to get to know your partner as your relationship has evolved, there could have been months or even years between meeting, falling in love, getting engaged and then married.

Even if your child knew your partner from the beginning, the step from being their parent’s boyfriend or girlfriend to step father or mother is huge for children, and a new relationship between them needs to develop. This is even more important is they have also now acquired step siblings. You can’t make kids get along, fact, and they will need time and patience to develop any kind of relationship.

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Research into how and why parents just need to know paternity test truth

Alan — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 13:13:03 +0000

A huge relief: Almost 2/3 of tests reassure parents that ‘assumed fathers’ are the ‘biological father’
Younger mums most likely to need to know: 53% of testers are mothers under 25
Early testing desirable: 76% of tests relate to children under 2 years
Reassuring older dads: older Dads most likely to want to be confident it’s their child

The latest research into do it yourself paternity kits reveals that 2/3 men tested turn out to be the real father. This research was carried out in the wake of the launch of AssureDNA, a home paternity kit that is now on the high street through Boots stores.

There are many families in the UK who are uncertain about their children’s paternity, and the space for the name of the father is left blank on approximately 50,000 birth certificates every year. The research estimates that in the UK, around 1/25 assumed fathers turn out not to be the biological daddy at all.

“Knowing the truth can have life-changing results,” says Relationship Counsellor, Joyce Walter. “It’s therefore crucial that all parties consent to the test and discuss the consequences with a trained professional before going ahead, which is the case with the assuredna test. No parent wants to be in a position where they have to do a paternity test, but the reality is that today’s families are far more complex than ever before. Any feelings of doubt can seriously disrupt family life and cause bigger problems in the long term. Our relationships, in order to be healthy ones, need to be based on honesty and trust.”

Now, test analyses conducted by the makers of the assuredna testing kits, Anglia DNA, reveal some interesting statistics from individuals who have used the assuredna kit.

AGE AND SEX

76% of tests are carried out by couples when the child is aged 0 to 24 months (of which, 53% relate to babies aged 0-6 months)
Demand for paternity testing from women peaks between the ages of 22-25 and then declines
Demand from men sees a sharp increase from the age of 25, with almost half of tests carried out when men are aged 26-40
In 84% of cases, the mother or father is stated as the ‘nominated person’ (the person to whom the Test Report should be sent and with whom the results may be discussed) however, in the remaining 16% of cases, this person is someone else, e.g. a relative or family friend
Younger women aged 15-18 are almost twice as likely to do a paternity test than men of the same age (This pattern may denote the fact that men start to become more interested in ascertaining paternity only after they have reached the ‘settling down’ age.)

SEX, MARRIAGE & CO-HABITATION

The research in question highlighted the fact that only 7% of assumed fathers and mothers shared the same surname, and only 16% shared the same address.

CERTAINTY EQUALS PEACE OF MIND

“Couples come to assuredna because they want peace of mind,” says Dr. Mandy Hartly, Technical Manager at Anglia DNA – the makers of assuredna. “We understand that there are families out there living with doubt and uncertainty, and are struggling to move on with their lives because of this. By doing a consensual paternity test like the assuredna test, couples can put an end to those feelings of doubt and move on as a family.”

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Cleartalking in North Yorkshire

Alan — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 20:26:48 +0000

Cleartalking is a new service which is being offered to parents in North Yorkshire. It is designed to target those parents who have children suffering from language or speech difficulties.

It is a therapy service that is provided by Julia Charlesworth, who is a trained speech therapist based in Boroughbridge. The service will be provided to children under 16 and the website for the service can be found at www.clear-talking.co.uk.

Parents who want their children to take advantage of the service will need to have a referral from their GP or their school. Ms Charlesworth has said that she founded the service because there is a growing demand for children to be treated who are suffering from speech difficulties.

Previously Ms Charlesworth has been working as a speech therapist with the NHS. Her qualifications come from the University of Central England, where she studied Speech and Language Pathology.

She has also worked in clinics in the past, as well as community settings, and she started her career in Darlington where she was a generalist. She developed a specialism working with deaf people in the south of England but eventually moved to the North East.

She has commented about the service, “Parents can sometimes find it hard to get the help they need for struggling children. They are regularly concerned that speech difficulties mean that a child’s social skills will be affected.

The service I’m providing will diagnose and treat children with a wide range of difficulties. It will help them overcome conditions such as dyspraxia, unclear speech and also help children who are just slow at putting words together. The service is designed to fit in with the busy lives of modern parents.”

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Parents to get official internet complaints site

Alan — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 05:51:02 +0000

The PM, David Cameron, is to unveil the new online complaints website which is targetted at parents with concerns about the inappropriate material their children are being exposed to. The site is called Parentport, and parents will have the opportunity to lodge their complaints about individual cases, which will then trigger an investigation by Ofcom.

This service is just part of a series of new measures that the PM is hoping will lead to the end of child sexualisation, which will include the ban of adverts near schools and also children under the age of 15 being banned from being ambassadors for brands or products.

This move comes at the same time at the four largest providers of internet services are set to reveal that they are to offer customers an active choice in blocking adult content, at the point of sale. Mr Cameron is also expected to warn that he is prepared to take serious action against companies who don’t do more to stop the sexualisation of our children.

This is an issue that Mr Cameron has long taken interest in. When he was the leader of the opposition, he verbally attacked those retailers who sold to young girls skimpy clothing with suggestive wording on them. At a summit at Downing Street, Mr Cameron and the Children’s Minister Sarah Teather will meet both industry representatives and children.

A report in May from the CE of the Mothers’ Union, Reg Bailey, suggested numerous ways in which this issue should and could be tackled. Advertising near to schools is to be closely monitored, and any billboards that are seen to display risqué images that have clearly been designed to appeal to youngsters will be banned throughout the area surrounding schools.

The most difficult part to police will be attempting to stop youngsters being used as brand ambassadors, but ministers are fully determined to try and stop the way that social media can influence young and impressionable children.

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Parents buy things for kids instead of spending time with them

Alan — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 03:02:01 +0000

A recent study has been published by an international charity that says there is a materialistic culture in the UK because parents are not spending enough time with their children. The report was based off speaking to many families in the UK and found that they feel there is a great pressure from society to buy things for their children. Interestingly this pressure was felt the most by lower income households.

The report found that UK parents were very dedicated to their children but their relationships suffered because the parents were often having to work long hours. The reason people feel pressured to buy things for their children, according to the survey, is to make up for this loss of time spent with the child. Some commentators have said this links with the riots in London which showed a culture that has a consumerism that is out of control.

The report by UNICEF agrees with this saying that the looting was a direct reflection of the materialism of young people. Other notable people have said that the country needs to move away from this culture of people defining themselves by the things that they buy.

The Executive Director of UNICEF in the UK is David Bull, who commented, “Politicians are really now trying to understand what the rioting means about the state of our culture and society. This report says something about this and it is essential that the government listen to what families are saying.”

The report also looked at the situation in Spain and Sweden where something quite different was found. Those countries were found to have families that ensured that spending time together was the most important factor – not just owning nice things.

The research has lead UNICEF to make several recommendation to the government. An important one is demanding that companies pay people a wage that is enough for them to live off, without having to take on another job. They also have recommended that the UK introduce a ban on advertising during television programming aimed at children under 12, this is currently in place in Sweden.

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Kids know more about the internet than their parents

Alan — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 01:24:46 +0000

48% of all parents who have children between the ages of five and 15 that are regular internet users admitted that they do not know as much about the World Wide Web as their do according to new research this week published by OfCom. The figure of parents in the dark rises up to http://www.parentscafe.co.uk/wp-admin/post-new.php70% in the case of parents with a child aged between 12 and 15.

Despite the fact that parents may not be completely sure what is happening online, there has been a large jump in the number of children and the time they spend online over the last year with much more gaming consoles and mobile phones on the market that allow kids to get online. About 18% of all 5-15 year olds have their own internet enabled mobile phone and another 16% can go online with their gaming console. When the age group jumps up to the 12-15 bracket these numbers increase up to 35% and 23% respectively for the same activities. Even more impressive, of this age group 41% can get online from the privacy of their bedrooms.

Parents seem to be oblivious to their chilren’s internet use with most choosing not to set parental controls- a low 37% with filters in place last year. However, those who do not use the filters stated that they either supervise or trust their children.

The Ofcom results are the findings from a series of Ofcom media literacy reports all of which focus on the informed use of the internet, safe browsing, and digital content literacy of UK children and adults.

TV loses top spot as most-missed media for younger people

Seventy-four per cent of all households now have the internet at home, an increase of three percentage points from 2009. And the amount of time adult internet users say they spend on the internet has increased from 12.2 hours in 2009 to 14.2 hours in 2010. 12-15 year olds now say they spend 15.6 hours per week on the internet, just below the 17.2 hours they spend watching TV.

TV remains the media that would be missed the most for the UK as a whole, although it has decreased – from 50 per cent in 2009 to 44 per cent in 2010.

For the first time 16-24s do not say they would miss TV the most –they are more likely to say mobile phones (28 per cent) ahead of TV (23 per cent), and are as likely to say the internet (26 per cent).

Among children aged 12-15, television is no longer the most-missed media (24 per cent), as 26 per cent say they’d most miss their mobile and 24 per cent say the internet.

The popularity of mobile phones among 12-15s is reflected by the estimated number of text messages sent per week doubling since 2007 with 113 texts sent per week compared with 54 in 2007.

Over half of children aged 8-15 who use the internet at home now have a social networking profile

Overall, 54 per cent of children aged 8-15 who use the internet at home have a social networking profile, an increase of nine percentage points since 2009. This is now the same percentage as for adult internet users (54 per cent compared with 44 per cent in 2009).

Within this, around a third (34 per cent) of children aged 8-12 who use the internet at home have a social networking profile on sites that require users to register as being 13 or over (such as Facebook, Bebo or MySpace), up from a quarter in 2009. This rises to 47 per cent of 10-12 year olds.

A quarter of children aged 8-15 with a smartphone say that they regularly use it to visit social networking sites.

Mixed attitudes to online privacy and personal data among children

While more children say they have become more careful about their privacy online, (87 per cent of 12-15s now say their profile can only be seen by friends compared with 78 per cent in 2009), nearly one third of this age group (32 per cent) with an active social networking site profile say they speak to friends of friends or people they don’t know.

In addition, one in five (22 per cent) of 12-15 year olds who use the internet at home would be happy to share their email address online. These levels of comfort in sharing personal data among young people could mean that they are not evaluating the potential risks.

Older children are aware of negative online experiences, with almost half of children aged 12-15 (47 per cent) knowing someone who has had gossip spread about them online or via a text message and three in ten (29 per cent) knowing someone who has had embarrassing pictures made public.

UK adults less concerned about the internet

Understanding how the media operates can help audiences manage their expectations of content online and on TV, which is especially important given the growth of video on demand services.

Since 2005, UK adults have fewer concerns about TV and the internet despite increased take-up and usage. Fifty-four per cent of adult internet users have concerns about the internet, such as offensive or illegal content, or security or fraud issues, down from 70 per cent in 2005. Forty per cent of adults now have any concerns about TV, for example, offensive content (22 per cent), programme quality or repeats (24 per cent) – an overall decrease from 46 per cent in 2005.

Two in five (41 per cent) of adults think content on the internet is regulated, an increase of four percentage points since 2009.

And nearly half of adult search engine users (44 per cent) are not evaluating search engine results. Around one quarter (26 per cent) believe that if results have been listed by the search engine then they must be accurate or unbiased, up by six percentage points since 2009. And a further 18 per cent say they simply use the sites they like the look of rather than thinking about accuracy or bias.

But people are enjoying the benefits of being online

More people are using the internet to do more online.

There has been an increase in adult internet users watching audio-visual content online (41 per cent compared with 32 per cent in 2009).

There has also been an increase in the use of the internet for health information with over half of internet users (56 per cent) saying that they have ever used the internet to find out more about an illness, an increase of nine percentage points on 2009.

And more people are regularly using the internet for transactions such as buying and selling online (43 per cent in 2010 – up from 37 per cent in 2009).

Eight in ten adult internet users (82 per cent) say that they saved money in the last six months by using the internet, for example comparing prices or buying online rather than in the shops.

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Coping with Foul Mouthed Children

admin — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 08:17:54 +0000

An Advertorial Feature

Does it feel like your son or daughter has picked up a whole new load of expressions that are becoming too familiar at home? Do you feel it threatens your relationship with your children? Do you worry about what to do? Remember: this is a natural phase in development and most parents have been through it.

Unfortunately you cannot change social behaviours and you cannot prevent your children from using bad language by simply telling them to stop it or by blaming it on their friends. Besides, have you never laughed at a rude joke yourself? Why was that different? Below we provide some simple tips that may help reduce your anxiety:

Make it clear to your child that there is a context for swearing. Explain that some people get more offended and shocked than others. Perhaps the ones who are shocked are also the ones who find it difficult to deal with the social reality, but we have to respect their needs too. Advise your child to judge the ‘audience’ before they swear. For example, with friends and family it’s more acceptable than it is with an elderly person or a teacher.
If it bothers you personally, check yourself and reduce rude words from your own vocabulary. Children see people around them, on the street, on TV, swear freely and they mimic them.
Try and be more laid back at home. If your kids can ‘be free’ at home it is more likely that they will not take it out on others.
Remember that sometimes we swear in order to colour what we say and make it more interesting. Also remember that a rude word may be simply reactionary so, the more you suppress it the more you may aggravate the situation.
Don’t lose hope. The fact that your child is swearing does not mean they won’t do well in life or that there is something wrong. Don’t become too strict and ban your children from treats like Pringles as this could backfire and cause them to rebel. It is much more likely that your child will be affected by strictness at home than by rude words.

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New video helps parents with teenagers accessing pornography

Alan — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 17:03:28 +0000

One of the worst things a parent has to do is broach the subject of porn with their children. Now the free online site ParentChannel.tv has unveiled a new video which deals with this tricky scenario. It gives parents tips on how to deal with the situation, and the best way to deal with it so it doesn’t get out of hand.

With access to the internet being in nearly every household, it is no real surprise that children are seeing porn more frequently. No parent wants to think of their child seeing pornography, but unfortunately they do. This Video is extremely helpful and can help all concerned.

According to a survey of 9-19 year-olds’ online activities (UK Children Go Online), conducted by LSE:

More than half of teens (57%) have seen porn online
36% have accidentally found themselves on a pornographic website when looking for something else
25% have received pornographic junk mail by email or instant messaging
10% have visited a pornographic website on purpose
9% have been sent pornography from someone they know
2% have been sent pornography from someone they met online

Their responses to seeing porn also make interesting reading:

54% say they did not think too much about it
14% didn’t like it
20% thought it was disgusting
8% wished they had never seen it
7% thought it was interesting
7% enjoyed it

Parentchannel.tv has unveiled a video clip which offers some great tips for teens and parents as well as keeping the conversation out in the open

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Co-operative Community Fund – supporting community projects

admin — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 13:29:54 +0000

Are you living with a problem in your area that could easily be resolved with a bit of community spirit combined with a small amount of cash? That is what the Co-operative Community Fund is all about, bringing people from your local community together in order to achieve a small but meaningful solution to a local problem, therefore improving the lives of the residents of an area.

The Co-operative Community Fund, funded by Cooperative Membership Fund, is in a position to give out grants of anything from a helpful £100 to an impressive £2,000. This is a truly local initiative that aims to involve local people in a small area to tackle local problems, without the interference of outside bodies, or the need for the local community to hand over their own hard earned cash.

The Co-operative Community Fund handed out real cash in the amount of £1.2 million last year in order to brighten up the lives of residents in communities up and down the UK. All that they ask is that the project fulfils some simple criteria.

Firstly that the project will have a positive impact on the local community, although a group of people or small organisation does not have two be in possession of charitable status in order to apply for funding.

The project must positively impact an issue that affects the local community, it must also provide some kind of long-term benefits for people living in the community, it will also need to show that the initiative will support co-operative values, which basically boils down to people working together for a common goal, also ideally, but not essentially, the project should be innovative.

In our area we have reasonably pleasant surroundings, which was blighted by a patch of land in the centre of the community, which at one time had been a lawn, but over the years had become a muddy dumping ground, for old bicycles, the remnants of years of bonfires and a sea off broken glass. We could apply for a grant to assist us in turning the piece of land back into a community garden, a place of peace and tranquillity that could be shared by all of the residents. If we can manage to obtain funding through this initiative then with a lot of sweat and hard work local people could change a derelict piece of wasteland into a comfortable place to sit on a sunny afternoon.

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