This November, besides Universal Children’s Day,   UN marks its 25th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. 25 years ago UN made a promise to the children across the world that they would do their best to protect their rights so that they could develop, learn and fulfil their potential.

We were all children once. And we all share the desire for the well-being of our children, which has always been and will continue to be the most universally cherished aspiration of humankind.

The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child on Universal Children’s Day that has been celebrated every year on 20th of November since 1954.This day is observed as a day of activities devoted to promoting the welfare of the children of the world. On this day many schools and other educational institutions make a special effort to inform children of their rights according to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Teachers stimulate their pupils to think about the differences between themselves and others and explain the idea of rights. In countries where the rights of children are generally well-respected, teachers may draw attention to situations in countries where this is not the case.

One of the best ways to help children succeed in life is to educate them – UNICEF Serbia.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child contains 54 articles and is a comprehensive instrument setting out rights that define universal principles and norms for the status of children. It is the only international human rights treaty which covers the whole spectrum of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights.

These rights can be summed up in 10 points:

1. All children and young people have the same rights. No child or young person may be put at a disadvantage because of sex, color of skin, language or religion.
2. Children and young people have a right to the best health possible, as well as healthcare and medical care.
3. Children and young people have the right to free basic education. The possibility to attend schools to further their education should also be enabled..
4. Children and young people have the right to rest, leisure, play and participation in cultural and artistic activities.
5. Children and young people have the right to information, freedom to express their opinions and to be heard.
6. Children and young people have the right to a good upbringing. Their parents or guardians may not use physical force against them; ill-treatment and misuse is forbidden.
7. Children and young people have the right to receive special protection and help during war.
8. Children and young people have the right to protection against exploitative work and sexual abuse.
9. Children and young people have the right to live with their parents and to have contact to both their mother and father if they live apart.
10. Disabled children and young people have the right to special support and promotion, as well as the right to play an active part in society.

Novak Djokovic Foundation strongly supports and respects Universal Children’s Day and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Our mission is to enable children from disadvantaged communities to grow up, play and develop in a stimulating, creative and safe settings, whilst learning to respect others and care of their environment. We believe in a world where all children have an equal chance of growing up and developing into productive, caring citizens of the world.

We as adults must respect the children and their rights. They are our future and it is our duty to ensure that they have a better tomorrow. We make the world a nicer and more loving place by caring about their well-being.

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Babies spend the first nine months of life free. Well, almost free. They are confined in the warm, safe environment of the womb but they are essentially free to move. As they gain the ability to move, they do move – a lot. This movement is a good thing. Mother certainly thinks so. She is comforted by the baby kicking or turning. She assumes that where there is movement there is life. The baby who is active in utero is assumed to be healthy and vigorous. We understand intuitively, perhaps even instinctively, that movement is good, it is important.

The Most Dangerous Journey

After nine months of relative freedom, the baby makes what is arguably the most difficult and dangerous journey he will ever make and he is born.

What must the baby think, after having had nine months of freedom to move, and having successfully made that dangerous and difficult journey, to find himself placed on his back, and wrapped not once, not twice, but often four or five times in blankets that completely immobilize him from the neck down.

What does it mean?

What is the sense of it?

This is the ancient practice called “swaddling.” This is a quaint word used rarely today that many may associate with the story of the birth of Christ wrapped in “swaddling clothes.”

Why Do We Swaddle the Baby?

The modern defense of swaddling is that when the baby is sleeping he may be disturbed by loud sounds. Loud sounds sometimes provoke a startle reflex in the baby (as they should). When this occurs the baby will go into extension and straighten his arms and legs. As a result, sometimes he is awakened by his startle reflex. He cries and this awakens mother and disturbs her sleep. So, on the chance that this might happen, we immobilize the baby from the neck down. Not only at night but often during the day as well.

First, it is good, not bad, to have a startle reflex. It is a life-saving reflex that we keep throughout life. The baby has the right to have a startle reflex, just as we do, and further he has the right to extend his body in reaction to that startle. To intentionally inhibit or suppress this reflex is unwise.

Use It or Lose It

Second, the price the baby pays for being immobilized from the neck down is large. When he arrives he has the ability to move, because he has been moving for nine months. At birth, he very much needs to develop the ability to move against gravity, which is much harder that moving in the aqueous environment of the womb. This is a challenge that he is prepared to meet as long as we immediately give him the opportunity to use the ability he already has developed. If he is prevented from moving in the first few hours or days of life, he will lose the ability to move and it will take him months to get that ability back again.

Why?

Answer: The effects of gravity and weight gain.

Every day that he does not move he is getting heavier. That increase in his weight makes movement more and more difficult. Most babies are placed on their backs in carriers, carriages, and cribs for many hours daily. In this position the baby cannot move at all. Babies are like turtles placed upside down -completely helpless and immobile. This teaches the baby that movement is impossible. When he is removed from this helpless and hapless environment, he is often placed in a car seat, highchair, or backpack. He is upright but he is still completely immobile.

How much time does the modern baby spend on his belly on the floor free to move?

Answer: Some babies have zero opportunity during the day to move. Most have almost zero.

This is not good for our babies.

Babies have a right to move. It is a basic right that we all have. The more we move the healthier we are. The less we move the unhealthier we are. We all know that. It is even truer for the newborn baby.

Improved Vision Leads  To More Movement

Movement is critical for all aspects of the newborn baby’s development.   When the baby is on his belly moving forward on the floor, he begins to use his vision in a way that he does not need to use when we move him through space.   This stimulation for his visual pathway helps that pathway to develop more rapidly and more completely at a time when being able to see is very important to him. The better he sees the more he wants to move to get to the things he sees. His desire to explore is born of better vision.

Mobility and vision go hand-in-hand.   When he can crawl on his belly for transportation in his environment, he will begin to develop the ability to use his two eyes together a little bit. As he pushes himself up on his hands and knees to creep, he will need his vision even more. Now he must calculate not only how far his head is from the leg of the chair he is about to run into but also how far his head is from the floor. The more he creeps the better his visual convergence gets. When he pulls himself up to walk he will already have some depth perception, thanks to the fact that he has paid his dues by doing a lot of crawling and creeping already. He will be safer on his feet and he will fall and run into things less as result of his better vision. This is one example of the great importance of mobility opportunity in the first six months of life, but it is not the only one.

More Mature Breathing Leads  To Better Communication

Let’s look at another critical area: respiration. Newborn babies do not breath very well. All mothers know this.   The very best way to promote the maturation of breathing is mobility. The baby who has ample time to be on his belly on the floor crawling and then creeping will develop deeper, more regular, more mature breathing. The result will be a baby who can make a wider range of sounds much sooner.

This ability to make a wide range of meaningful sounds helps the baby to communicate with mother and father more effectively. He uses meaningful sounds more often than crying or screaming. Many babies continue to use the “birth cry” to communicate everyday needs and wants, because their breathing is still too immature to permit the use of more subtle meaningful sounds.   Babies who have adequate time on the floor to move and become mobile often use “words” many months before most babies are expected to talk.   This improved communication provides a better quality of life for the baby at a critical moment for him when he is establishing his place in the family.

One family who made sure that their third baby had plenty of time on the floor wrote:

Vaughn has far exceeded the developmental rate of his siblings. Childcare professionals have commented on how strong, alert, and developed he seems. Even our pediatrician was taken aback. At his 4-month check-up, I received the usual string of questions: “Can he do this yet”¦ is he doing that yet”¦” After repeatedly answering, “He’s been doing that for over a month now,” I ran down his list of milestones”¦ crawled 10 football fields by 2 months, baby-talk and laughing by 2 ½ months, rolling over by 3 months, holding breath underwater, etc. For the first time in three babies, our doctor looked up from her clipboard and said, “Wow, whatever you guys are doing at home, keep it up”¦ he’s doing great!

Crawled ten football fields by  two months of age

All of our babies should be doing that great. All of our babies could be doing great. All of our babies would be doing great if they had the freedom to move.

Our babies need to be free to move. The freedom to move is a birthright of the baby.

Copyright © 2013 The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential, All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential
8801 Stenton Avenue
Wyndmoor, PA 19038

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There are an estimated 150 million street children across the world today¹. They live in poverty, on the edge of society and lack the very basics of life:

• Food
• Clothing
• Shelter
• Family
• Love
• Education
• Someone to take care of them

How do children become street children?

The term street children can be used to mean:

• children who earn their living on the street – their only way of getting money
• children who use the streets as a refuge in the day, then return ‘home’ at night
• children who live their entire lives and sleep on the street

There are many reasons for their way of life, including:

• Parental bereavement
• War and natural disasters
• Family breakdown
• Violence and abuse at home

Before they get to live on the streets, most street children have already suffered. Becoming a street child is not a positive choice, it is often their only choice.

How do street children live?

With no education or money street children survive, for example, by:

• Providing shoe shines
• Cleaning cars
• Selling whatever they can find

while they scavenge and steal for food. If they are living on the streets at night finding somewhere safe to sleep is difficult and often street children will form groups for some kind of safety. Children sleep on the streets ‘with one eye open’ for danger.

Street children are open to all forms of abuse and exploitation.

They are usually wary of adults, authority and institutions.

The extremes of how street children can be treated

Street children are often treated as criminals, discriminated against and looked down on by society – but it can get much worse than that.

Brazil has a long history of street children. Just 10 years ago, on 23 July 1993, a group of street children were on the steps of the Candelaria Church in Rio de Janeiro, a place where they often slept at night. They were shot at by police. Eight of them died. All the men involved were sent for trial – two of them were convicted.

Street children are seen by some as a ‘problem’ and a ‘nuisance’. This was an extreme act to get rid of the problem, but not the first or the last time these measures have been used. The actions at the Candelaria Church were more public, resulting in international condemnation. An annual vigil is held at the church each year – ‘Candelaria, Never Again’.

Brutality and state violence is an ongoing threat for many street children.

In Latin America the life of a street child can be as short as four years.²

This start of this video  shows footage from the news report into the Candelaria massacre – be warned if you choose to watch it, that it shows graphic footage of children lying dead on the streets.) The video also states that 712 street children were murdered on the streets of Rio in one year.

Human rights

UNICEF’s Convention on the Rights of the Child³ is a legally binding international instrument which sets out the basic human rights that children everywhere have:

• The right to survival
• The right to develop to the fullest
• The right to protection from harmful influences, abuse and exploitation
• The right to participate fully in family, cultural and social life.

Street children struggle with all of these – it may be their legal right, but it certainly isn’t their everyday life.

In 2012 the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) produced a report – ‘Protection and promotion of the rights of children working and/or living on the streets‘⁴. It attracted more co-sponsors than almost any other resolution since the creation of the Human Rights Council in 2006.

How specialist charities are helping street children

Education can provide street children with a way out – education is something that can never be taken away from you – and street children have already lost so much or had it taken away from them.

Providing them with an education in the accepted sense is not always easy. Most will have had no formal education, and probably no training in their lives. Many programmes start with skills training using music, dance, sports and art – and when the children are ready they can progress to more formal education. They will then be able to earn their own living and fulfil their dreams.

Streetkids international uses a number of toolkits to help older children learn about business – so they can begin to earn their own living and work their way out of poverty. By ‘business’ they mean small-scale income-generating activities that are realistic first steps for many street youth.

Training street workers is another starting point. Street children are wary of adults and it can take time for a street worker to befriend them and show them how they can get away from the streets. The streets may be the only life they have ever known – some children are born on the streets. The streets may be the only place they have friends – other street children. It can take time to show them that there is a life other than the streets, a better life.

Some organisations provide shelters and schools for children who have been rescued from the streets.

A variety of approaches are taken by organisations working with street children, and all of them take into account the country and circumstances, such as war, economic pressures and natural disasters.

What all of them do is provide local help to the children through their own staff, partners and youth workers who know and understand the area.

Help that can transform the lives of street children.

Help that can give them back their self-confidence and provide them with hope for the future.

Help that can take them off the streets.

How you can help street children

Although there may be no street children on the street where you live, you can help to give them a chance to dream and escape from their situation. For instance you can:

Sign the online appeal  for the UN to recognise the International Day for Street Children, which started in 2011 and is on 12 April each year. This will help to raise the profile of street children and give them more of a voice across the world. You can also join them on Facebook – /streetchildrenday.

Organise an event for the next International Day for Street Children – you can find some ideas on the Street Children Day website.

Buy ‘Nobody Ever Listened to Me’ – a book written by David Maidment which is a collection of essays and stories about what it is like to be a street child. All the profits and royalties from the book are donated to the Consortium for Streetchildren and other participating bodies. You can find it, for instance, on Amazon.

Donate to a charity dedicated to street children⁵ – there are many out there and I have listed some under References at the end of this blog, or to an international charity with special groups working with street children, such as UNICEF. If you think it is odd that I suggest you donate to a charity other than NDF, consider the NDF vision:

At NDF, we believe in a world where all children have an equal chance to grow up and develop into productive, caring citizens of the world.

I think supporting specialist charities and organisations to help street children falls within that vision – one charity cannot do it all on their own.

Here are some examples of how charities are helping street children:

Ejide in Rwanda now has a dream, thanks to UNICEF – he will tell you about it in this video.

In India it is estimated that a child arrives at a railway station every 5 minutes – alone, hungry and vulnerable. The Railway Children Charity has been setting up ‘child friendly railway stations since 2008. Rescue workers refer children to a ‘child protection booth’ on, or near, railway platforms, which are usually staffed by a volunteer or railway protection force officer. From here, children who have just arrived are referred to a drop-in centre where they are given food, clean clothes and medical care and can access longer-term help.

We are approaching the festive season

Whatever it means to you in terms of your religion or culture, the festive season for many of us means time with friends and family, good food and a time to be thankful for what we have.

For street children the festive season remains a time of survival.

References:

• 1 UNESCO – Street Children
• 2 Is street life dangerous
• 3 UNICEF Convention on the Rights of the Child
• 4 UN OHCHR report on ‘Protection and promotion of the rights of children working and/or living on the streets’
• 5 Some of the charities supporting street children:

• The Consortium for Street Children
• streetkidsdirect
• War Child
• Railway Children
• Streetkids International

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He carries his medicines well hidden in a bag. He does not want to reveal his secret to anyone. If they find out what is going on with him, maybe they will misjudge him and say that he is no longer their friend, he wonders. Perhaps they will be afraid to stay close to him. He knows how tough it can be when others do not accept you. While in elementary school he experienced the cruelty of his classmates, pointing finger at him as if he is not a human being, as if he is some kind of “alien” to his surroundings. But, he wasn’t dangerous as others used to think. He only wanted to play with other children and be their friend.

Each day 1000 children become infected with HIV. Shari is one of these children. They live a life full of struggle and fight against prejudice, but they never lose hope that maybe one day somebody will find cure for their illness. Most of them contract the virus before they are born, at delivery, or when breastfeeding. These forms of transmission are preventable but for those babies who do contract virus, there isn’t much time. Without treatment, 1/3 will die before their first birthday, 1/2 will die before their second. Most of them are never even diagnosed with the virus that leads to their deaths. The need for early diagnosis and treatment is clear. For babies with HIV, their chance of dying is reduced by 3/4 when treatment is started within the first 12 weeks of life. Good thing is that the number of children who receive treatment has increased. But the youngest among them are still missing out. The painful truth is that every two minutes, every day, every year one new baby with HIV comes into this world. However, these babies can not be just statistics and mere numbers.

Why does this occur?

• There are several ways of HIV transmission: by sexual contact, through intravenous drug use or through infected blood or blood products.
• Mothers, as virus carriers, usually don’t have regular medical examinations, or don’t receive any kind of therapy.
• In many parts of the world mothers often don’t know that they are infected, and they don’t want to be tested before the delivery.
• In Africa and some parts of Asia medical conditions are very poor and it is almost impossible to get adequate treatment.
• Some people are not even aware how dangerous it can be and what are the consequences of having unsafe sex and using of drugs for their health and the health of their children.

What can be done to prevent this from happening?

• Identify all newborn babies whose mothers are HIV positive, carry out HIV testing in the first two months after their birth, immediately start with the therapy and provide paediatric care. It is also necessary to raise people awareness regarding HIV issue, share information with them and never give up, no matter how tough this struggle can be.
• Preventing infection is crucial. The aim of UNAIDS and other similar organizations is to educate mothers and future parents, thus reducing dangerous and often tragic consequences. The results is that between 2001. and 2008. there is a 25 per cent decrease in HIV prevalence among young people in sub-Saharan countries.
• Wide population should be educated as well. Children who went through regular schooling system are less likely to put their health in jeopardy in this way.
• Receive therapy, such as ARV (using three or more anti-HIV drugs).
• In most cases people who become infected with HIV do not have symptoms for many years. The only way to diagnose the infection is by the HIV antibody test carried out on time.

How to treat an infant with HIV after delivery?

With modern therapy, 75% of children with HIV infection can live up to 5 and 50% of them up to 8 years. In fact, they live 10 years on average, although there are more and more children living much longer than this rate.

There is an increasing number of drugs used in the treatment of HIV infection in adults and adolescents.

These children should receive constant medical care and when the situation gets worse it is best to carry out treatment in the least restrictive conditions. For example, if a child receives medical care at home along with social services, there is no need to spend more time in the hospital.

For children with HIV being in residental care homes or attending nursery or school, the doctor estimates all the possible risks. However, only parents and doctors should be aware of the HIV status of a child, and there is no need to alarm everyone.

Medicine today is so advanced, and the situation is much better and more optimistic regarding all mothers and children living with HIV. Receiving antiretrovirals mother-to-child HIV transmission can be prevented thus avoiding serious consequences. Thanks to timely medical care, women with HIV can give birth to completely healthy children.

Children living with HIV are often depressed, afraid how their community will react when people find out about their condition. Therefore, they try to keep themselves invisible as much as they can. But we must change that. We should protect and support them. These children need medical care and a lot of love, not only from their families. They deserve to have a normal life. They have hopes, plans and dreams for the future. These children can “infect” with nothing but limitless love, affection, real friendship and sincerity towards the others.

Christmas and New Year are coming. This is the time we usually think a lot about our family, children, friends, health and happiness. Parents want to make their children happy buying them presents they always dreamed of and putting those gifts under the Christmas tree. On the other hand, the only dream of children with HIV is to be healthy.

Don’t discriminate them! Accept them as they are and support them. It is time to unite in fight against HIV! Today is Worlds AIDS Day. Get tested for HIV. Take care of your health, because good health is priceless.

References:

• http://www.pedaids.org/blog/entry/dancer-diaries-900-stickers-making-an-incredible-impact
• http://www.unicef.org/esaro/Stocktaking_Key_Facts.pdf
• http://www.childinfo.org/hiv_aids.html
• http://www.vasdoktor.com/medicina-od-a-do-z/pedijatrija/730-hiv-infekcija-djeteta-sida-aids
• http://zena.blic.rs/Zdravlje/4988/Pismo-majke-koja-je-usvojila-dete-zarazeno-HIV-om

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Your mouth is a revolver firing bullets in the sky
“¦”¦”¦”¦”¦
This world is getting colder. Strangers passing by
No one offers you a shoulder. No one looks you in the eye

James Blunt, Bonfire Heart

The power of words

The purpose of words as bullets is to:
“¦.. hurt and cause pain
“¦.. control and gain power

But words can also be used to:
“¦.. help and support
“¦.. nurture and protect

As with many things in life, it depends how you use them.

When someone is the subject of bullying with words it is rarely something they talk about to anyone. It often results in withdrawal and isolation which compounds the problem as the bully will take advantage of the silence.

When and where does bullying occur?

Bullying can happen to anyone, at any age and in many circumstances, such as:

• at home
• at school
• in relationships
• at work
• in caring for the elderly
• in looking after those with disabilities

Types of bulling

Verbal bullying

When many people think of bullying they think of physical bullying – that is sometimes easier to detect than verbal bullying which is often hidden.

It can happen in school, clubs, the school bus – anywhere that children are together.

Cyberbullying

Cyberbulling is bullying using any digital media – predominantly mobile phones, social media and emails.

Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development and UNICEF, with the support of Telenor, conducted a survey on digital bullying among primary and secondary schools pupils in December 2012.¹
The results are similar to surveys conducted around the world – cyberbullying is on the increase and children need protection.

The results included:

• 36% of pupils responded to messages from people they did not know
• 58% of them accepted “friend” requests from strangers on social networks
• 11% of children accepted meetings with people they met online but did not know
• 12% were the subject of bullying on the Internet, 8% were victims of photographing by mobile telephones or cameras, 7% received violent SMS messages, 12% received abusive phone calls
• 5% of primary school pupils admitted that they harassed others on the Internet, 4% made pictures of someone who didn’t want to be photographed by mobile phone or camera, 2% sent unpleasant SMS messages and 4% made abusive phone calls
• 84% of pupils were passive observers of digital bullying at least once
• 52% of secondary school pupils and. 48 % of primary school students visit web sites they believe their parents would not allow.

Sibling Bullying

When does fighting between siblings become bullying? This was a question the BBC Mews Magazine posed recently.

• Almost a third of children in a recent survey said they had been the victim of sibling aggression in the past year
• They reported a range of acts from theft and psychological abuse to physical assault
• Some parents believe conflict between siblings toughens them up
• Research says sibling aggression affects a child’s mental health

Comments were invited from individuals who had been bulled by siblings, and they included²:

“I was bullied by my older brother throughout my childhood. He was eight years older and put a lot of energy into bullying. He drew scary pictures on the wall near my bed when I was three years old. He used a soldering iron to write a horrible message – “you are a fat pig” – on a school pencil case my Mum made for me. At age 11 I remember wishing that I hadn’t been born.

I stopped speaking to him at home for two years. My parents did very little to stop it. Christmas was always ruined by it. I was also bullied at school but it wasn’t as bad as the bullying at home. I suffered from depression for many years and have experienced workplace bullying and domestic violence. I know it is all connected to my childhood.”

How we can help children handle bullying

Give children behaviour tips to stop them being bullied

Bullies will often ‘pick’ on someone they think is weaker than they are, so teach your child to:

• Project a positive attitude and walk, sit and move with confidence
• Understand the difference between assertive and aggressive behaviour
• Avoid potential bullying situations by moving calmly out of the way
• Understand and set boundaries with others, telling them to ‘stop’ in a calm and firm manner
• Be able to ‘throw away’ hurtful words by saying them out loud and then dismissing them by throwing them away
• Get help when they need it by talking to teachers, parents and other adults
• Use social media, the internet and mobile phones safely

Teach children the long term effects of bullying

Children do not always realise the potentially long term effects of bullying others. They may only see the short term effect – what happens in the moment. One of the best exercises I have found is shown here – it speaks for itself.

Write music to promote anti-bullying

So, I won’t let you close enough to hurt me
“¦”¦”¦”¦”¦
Next time I’ll be braver
I’ll be my own saviour
Standing on my own two feet

Adele, Turning Tables

Adele is a talented, award-winning singer songwriter – perhaps something your child would like to be. The Songwriting Charity in the UK empowers children through the art of songwriting. They run a series of Bullybeat anti-bullying songwriting workshops. Children learn about writing lyrics, arranging music, singing and producing songs which promote an antibullying message. Expressing their thoughts in music helps them to understand the effects of bullying, learn new skills and make friends. You can hear some of the songs on their website.

Even if you do not have the resources of The Songwriting Charity, teaching groups of children to write and sing about bullying is a powerful way of learning about its effects.

Perform or watch plays about bullying

If you are performing a school play, why not make bullying the theme of the play? The children can be involved in its creation and production.

In Serbia the Telenor Serbia Foundation and the Ministry of Foreign and Internal Trade and Telecommunications supported the production of Studio Center’s play “Children on the Internet”. It highlights the potential risks that children are exposed to on the internet such as paedophilia and fake profiles, internet addiction, frauds for financial gain and trafficking.

“Children on the Internet” was premiered on November 9th 2012 in the Children’s Cultural Centre in Belgrade and performances continued until September 2013.

Use resources such as posters or school packs

There are a lot of resources available to help children, teachers and parents with bullying. As well as many books here are a few more that can help:

• - Schools Packs from the UK Safer Internet Centre
• - Rulers, pencils, pin-badges, posters and more from the Anti-bullying Alliance
• - Posters on bullying to display around schools and youth centres – some of them are shown above under ‘Verbal bullying and Cyberbullying’

Take part in Anti-Bullying week 18-22 November 2013

In the UK the Anti-Bullying Alliance established an Anti-Bullying Week in 2006, and this year it is running from 18 to 22 November. You can link to it on Twitter at #ABW2013.

The Alliance produces a range of resources for children, teachers and parents of all ages, from videos to lesson plans and information packs.

Plan something for Safe Internet Day

Safe Internet Day is an annual day – the next one will be on 11 February 2014 with the theme ‘Let’s create a better internet together’. Schools and groups create events to mark the day – what could your school or group do?

Every year they create a video; here is the one from 2013, which had a theme of ‘Connect with Respect’.

Show children that it is OK to speak up about bullying

Adults are victims of bullying too. Showing children that everyone can speak up about bullying can help them to talk about it and seek help whether they are the victim or are witnessing someone else being bullied.

A recent case in the US was the woman who became the face of the controversial Affordable Healthcare program and its failed website. Her photo was used on their website and her face was soon mocked, Photoshoped and altered. She became the subject of late-night jokes, partisan hatred and intense speculation.

She did nothing but allow her photo to be used and has now spoken up about it.³

Spare a thought for bullies too

Happy, contented people are rarely bullies – they are a type of victim too. They are often people who have been bullied or abused themselves. Bullies often feel that they don’t ‘fit in’ and use bullying to gain respect and have people look up to them – before they realise these are not real friends.

Bullying is a form of control, and so bullies sometimes bully because they feel they have no control elsewhere in their lives.

Compelling research confirms that bullies are twice as likely as their peers to have criminal convictions and four times more likely to be multiple offenders.⁴

They need help with their behaviour too.

“Forgetting people who hurt you is your gift to them; forgiving people who hurt you is your gift to yourself.”

References

• 1 Stop Digital Bullying Serbia
• 2 Sibling bullying
• 3 Mystery face of Obama healthcare on cyberbullying
• 4 Effects of bullying on the bully

The post The Potentially Destructive Power of Words appeared first on Novak Djokovic Foundation.

In this post, child neglect, like emotional child abuse, doesn’t show itself through physical bruising. This “psychological abuse” rears its ugly head in a child’s appearance and actions.

What child neglect is and who it impacts

Child neglect is defined as the failure of a parent, guardian or other caregiver to provide for a child’s basic needs.¹ Neglect can be considered any of the following:

• Physical: Failure to provide necessary food, shelter or supervision.
• Medical: Failure to provide necessary health treatments.
• Educational: Failure to educate a child or attend to special needs.
• Emotional: Failure to attend to a child’s emotional needs, provide psychological care or permitting a child to take part in detrimental activities.²

The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Administration for Children and Families said that in 2011, there were 676,569 victims of child abuse and neglect. Of the reports, 78.5% were neglect.³ Studies show the majority of child neglect cases are girls and young children.⁴

How neglect shows itself in a child

Neglect is best observed by individuals in close and frequent contact with a child, most commonly a teacher or school official. These individuals are able to recognize and  monitor the different signs that show the presence of neglect, including:

• Clothing that is ill-fitting, dirty or inappropriate for the weather
• Consistently bad hygiene
• Untreated illnesses and physical injuries
• Child is frequently unsupervised or left alone in an unsafe environment
• Child is frequently late or missing from school⁵

How parents may reveal there is an issue

Children are not the only ones to show signs of neglect. Parents may also reveal that there is an issue in the home. They do this in many ways, including blaming the child for  its problems, demanding a level of performance the child cannot achieve or showing little concern for the child. Issues between a parent and child become obvious if the pair  rarely touch or look at each other, say they do not like each other or talk of their relationship in a negative matter.

How to help

The first step in helping a neglected child is learning to recognize the signs. Then evaluate the situation and recognize any high-risk situations. If a child is being harmed, reporting your findings could protect him or her so do not feel guilty about making accusations. Investigate and determine if help is needed.

If you suspect a child is suffering from neglect, report the issue to a local child protective services agency. In the United States, “reasonable suspicion” based on objective
evidence is all that is needed to file a report.⁶

Children of any age are in need of love and attention, not neglect. Pay attention to children and nurture them to show you care. They will love you for it and grow to be better people in our world.

1 https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/factsheets/whatiscan.pdf
2 https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/factsheets/whatiscan.pdf
3 http://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/cb/cm11.pdf
4 http://www.psychologytoday.com/conditions/child-neglect
5 http://www.helpguide.org/mental/child_abuse_physical_emotional_sexual_neglect.htm
6 http://www.americanhumane.org/children/stop-child-abuse/fact-sheets/child-neglect.html

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Today, on October 5th, around 57 million children of primary school age are out of school. This means that there is a shortage of 5.24 million teachers in order to reach the goal of universal primary education by 2015.

In particular, 1.58 million new teaching positions will have to be created worldwide, while 3.66 million teachers leaving the profession will need to be replaced. As new teachers are recruited, the quality of teaching and learning must also continue to improve, the Heads of UNESCO, UNICEF, ILO (the International Labour Organization) agree.

Out of those 57 million children who still do not attend school, it is estimated that nearly half will never enter the educational institutions, while only 28 percent will begin their education – and it will happen too late. According to various researches, 54 percent of them are girls. There are one billion uneducated people in the world, of which 800 million are children.

Beside these warning data, the problem is also in the low level of learning. It is estimated that 250 million children fail to learn to read and write at the age of 10.

In Africa, for example, 1 million new teachers will be needed over the next two years, just to meet rising enrollment in sub-Saharan Africa, and 6.2 million teachers will be needed to make up for attrition. In the world’s newest country South Sudan, the ratio of qualified teacher to pupil is 1:117. Many untrained teachers don’t have a secondary level education and some just don’t show up to work.

In Serbia, the situation is also far from ideal. World Teachers’ Day passes almost unnoticed, and the state allocates 3.3 percent of GDP for education, while the average in the world is almost twice as much – about 6 percent.

What this all tells us:

• The world needs professional, well-trained, accountable and valued teachers
• Teachers are the central solution to the crisis of learning
• Teachers must participate in the strategy development of education in every country
• Teachers need to be paid better, because their work is extremely responsible, and the children’s future depends on it
• It is necessary to improve the conditions in which teachers conduct classes
• It is important to create more effective educational systems and prepare young people for active and responsible participation in society
• Let’s be grateful for teachers’ effort and support them in their work

Why are teachers so important?

• Teachers educate children and help them become responsible and worthy members of society
• Teachers transfer knowledge to children that will remain for a lifetime and help them have a better future
• Teachers guide the children, discover their talents, encourage creativity, help them acquire working habits, teach them about discipline, obligations…
• Teachers open new horizons and worlds to their pupils
• Teachers are role model of proper, fair and polite behavior and they strengthen children’s character
• Teachers establish a relationship of mutual respect and trust with children. It is a model that children transfer outside the school
• Every teacher has the task to get children like being and going to school

Education of future generations is uncertain, until the best possible teacher is in every classroom.

In 1994, the United Nations (UNESCO) proclaimed October 5th as World Teachers’ Day, with the aim to emphasize the role of the teacher in children’s education and development, and to highlight principles and recommendations concerning the status of teachers.

REFERENCEs

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/world-teachers-day
http://www.worldteachersday.org/map/page/index/1
http://reliefweb.int/report/world/unicef-good-teachers-are-vital-reach-education-goals
http://www.unicef.org/media/media_66036.html
http://www.uf.bg.ac.rs/media/2012/10/Eticki-kodeks1.pdf

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Year after year, not a single child is born in more than 1.500 towns and other places in Serbia. Furthermore, around 1.600 villages are almost entirely deserted. You can’t hear baby laughter, see cradles or diapers there – but mere extinction. Hundreds of places have less than five inhabitants, and it is estimated that in the next 15-20 years another 1.200 settlements in this country will simply “disappear”, because there are no children there, only very old people.

There are about million and 400.000 children under 18 years old in Serbia, which makes 20 percent of the entire population. Painful facts also inform us that 140.000 children live on the very edge of poverty, while one in eight kids are poor, and there are those who literally struggle to survive. Out of 48.000 users of soup kitchen here, it is recorded that 6.221 children have been queueing every day in order to get at least one cooked meal. They grasp metal plates in their small hands, waiting in line for the only chance to eat something on that day.

Unfortunately, people remember these horrible and warning facts only on rare occasions, such as the CHILDREN’S WEEK. This is an event celebrated in Serbia in the first week of October and around the world on other days, as well. Its’ motto in my country for 2013 is:

MOM AND DAD, I WANT A BIG BROTHER OR SISTER!

The aim is to help society become aware that children should be given more attention, love, and understanding. One of the messages, also, is that this world has no future if children are not provided with bare necessities. THEY MUST HAVE THE RIGHT TO GROW UP IN SAFE AND SECURE SURROUNDING, TO LEARN, DEVELOP, PLAY AND SOCIALIZE. AND TO BE BORN. This week, in particular, can help us realize that children are our only chance.

Image courtesy of Clare Bloomfield/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net”.

We are talking about socially “invisible” children, who have no documents, who are not registered at birth, without citizenship; children who do not have health care because their parents cannot provide them with health insurance; children with physical and mental disabilities; children with behavioral disorders; children who are not attending primary school; children with serious and rare diseases. Novak Djokovic Foundation has met such children in many villages and places in Serbia. Through our projects such as “Schools of Life“, “Mobile toy library“, “Friendship games” (this very week on Kopaonik), by reconstructing schoolyards, purchasing didactical materials and organizing other similar activities, we try to help the children and provide all what is necessary for them to have nicer and better childhood. It is great to know other people also want to help and to give their contribution to change and improve living conditions of unprivileged children in Serbia. If we unite, we can make a small, but strong team.

Roma children and refugees are in a difficult position too. Large number of children from the Roma population lives in cardboard houses, 20 percent of them are with some kind of disabilities, and there are many who do not eat every day.

This article is a wake-up call for people of good will. Let us not think just about ourselves. Let us forget, at least for a moment, about our jobs, ambitions, protocols, meetings, Skype and Twitter. Instead, try to think about the children, their problems, needs and help them in any possible way to have a happier childhood, to grow up in better conditions. You do not have to do this only during the Children’s week, but all year long, if you are able to – every day is a children’s day and every week is children’s week.

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