A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
Schools with fitter children achieve better literacy and numeracy results, according to Australian research. The study by physiologist Dr Dick Telford, of the Australian National University, and colleagues, was published in a recent issue of the journal Pediatric Exercise Science. "A school that has, on average, high fitness levels will have, on average, higher literacy [...]
'There is now evidence to show that the food, drink and alcohol industries use similar tactics to the tobacco companies to undermine public health interventions.' The report found that the ten largest global companies now control more than 15 per cent of all food sales - and the majority of these comprise of unhealthy food [...]
Many health professionals argue that a sex-soaked culture is taking an insidious toll on the emotional, psychological and physical wellbeing of children and young adolescents. ''It's not only about other, older children reading messages like that [on the jumpsuit]; it's also about what the parent is doing by placing their child in a sexualised space,'' [...]
Red pens are making students feel blue, according to a US study that recommends teachers refrain from using the colour when marking. In a paper published in The Social Science Journal, sociology professor Richard Dukes and associate professor Heather Albanesi, at the University of Colorado, show the use of a red pen in marking has [...]
Hey, kids, want to be more popular and happier in school? Then just be nicer. That’s what researchers at the University of California discovered during a recent study. The researchers divided more than 400 kids ages 9 to 12 into two groups: One group performed “acts of kindness,” and the other kept track of pleasant [...]
Teachers - is there something missing in how you are connecting with your students - those kids in Years 5 to 9 who sometimes seem to be in a world of their own? Do they appear to be at times fidgety, uninspired, unsure and at other times loud, challenging and emotional? The 'middle years' period [...]
Famous for his book Raising Boys, author and Generation Next speaker Steve Biddulph has just published a new book Raising Girls. He wrote the book out of concerns for increased mental health issues which many girls now face and are facing earlier and earlier. "Anxiety and depression have doubled in the last 10 years. Girls' [...]
In the age of instant information, globe-spanning viral videos and the world wide web, can a thoroughly wired country become a porn-free zone? Authorities in Iceland want to find out. The government of the North Atlantic nation is drafting plans to ban pornography, in print and online, in an attempt to protect children from a [...]
I believe sexualisation is a deeper and more lifelong issue, perhaps even endemic - and harmful - to gender relations throughout history. Objectification of women was at the core of the feminist struggle. But today, from a completely different quarter, the nature of sexuality for all of us is being modified. For example, boys are [...]
Worldwide 793 million people still cannot read In countries such as Kenya, Nepal and America children are getting together and discovering the world of the written word. For many of them it is opening new doors, not only to the joy of reading but it is also building within themselves a sense of self worth, [...]
