by North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center | Apr 16, 2019 | Blog
What is your favorite thing about springtime? Here at North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center, the warm weather of April marks the joyful start of planting season at our two organic gardens—one at our headquarters in Roslyn Heights and the other at our Marks Family Right From the Start 0-3+ Center in Manhasset.
When they begin as clients of the Guidance Center, many children and teens have low self-esteem and low self-confidence, but when they learn how to garden and then share their knowledge with children and adolescents from our other therapy groups, they feel accomplished.
“One of the most critical things for kids we work with is to help them develop and build a sense of belonging, mastery and competence,” says Andrew Malekoff, Executive Director of the Guidance Center. “In the garden, it’s also a way for them to connect with other kids.”
“We work with kids who sometimes have trouble staying focused and organized, but in the garden, they are able to do those things,” says Hillary McGrath, Mental Health Counselor at the Guidance Center. McGrath teaches the younger kids a poem: “Your mind is a garden, your thoughts are the seeds, you can plant flowers, or you can plant weeds.” And then they talk about behaviors they might want to “weed out” of their lives.
Groups of our children and teen clients water, seed and weed the organic beds, and they’re filled with joy when they see the vegetables grow. They bring some of the produce home to their families, but the excess goes to a local food pantry, which makes them feel proud of their ability to help others. “Kids have a sense of giving back,” says Bruce Kaufstein, Director of Clinical Services at the Guidance Center. “It’s empowering for them to give something back to the community.”
Of course, gardening is a great learning experience not only for kids and teens with mental health challenges, but for every child! Below are some of the lessons that come from working the soil:
- Gardening teaches children to respect nature and to marvel in the beauty and abundance that they helped create with their own two hands.
- Group gardening helps kids learn social skills as they work together to tend to the vegetables and flowers they are growing.
- Working in a garden helps children develop a sense of accomplishment and self-esteem as they witness what their hard work and dedication can create.
- Gardening helps reduce stress as kids focus their attention on the tasks at hand, live in the present moment, and leave behind obsessive thoughts and worry.
- The physical nature of gardening is good exercise for the body, and it also releases “feel good” chemicals such as serotonin.
- Finally, by growing vegetables themselves, kids are more likely to eat them!
For more information about our programs and services, call (516) 626-1971 or email info@northshorechildguidance.org.
by North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center | Apr 15, 2019 | Anton Media, In The Media
(Image by Rudy and Peter Skitterians from Pixabay)
I have protested or testified before government bodies for issues including separating children at the border, school shootings and insurance parity for mental health and substance use disorders. I participated in a number of relief efforts after large-scale disasters such as 9/11 and Hurricane Sandy. Yet nothing haunts me as much as the poisoning of an American city.
The water crisis in Flint, MI, began in April 2014 when, in a cost-cutting measure, the drinking water supply from Detroit’s system was switched to the Flint River. When essential treatment and testing of the water did not follow, health issues ensued.
Government officials turned their backs on the residents of Flint by ignoring the problem that was signaled by foul smelling and discolored water being piped into people’s homes for nearly two years.
Five years later, in January 2019, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer assured Flint residents that they will continue getting free bottled water until all of the pipes are replaced. According to a Jan. 23, 2019 report in The Detroit News, “As of December, the city had replaced nearly 7,000 out of 18,300 lead or galvanized steel water pipes it had identified.”
Beyond the local community, where is the sustained outrage about this unfathomable crime against the children and families of Flint?
I’ve seen a lot in seven decades beginning in the early 1950s, and although I never attempted to rank the horrors over those years, I find the poisoning of Flint, MI, to be among the most troubling. Although there has been backlash, I find it to be muted in comparison to other disasters.
The poisoning of an American city and all of its children, mostly children of color, was a government cost-cutting measure that would have been considered ethnic cleansing by our government leaders if it happened in any other country but our own, according to filmmaker Michael Moore.
To be clear: The residents of an entire American city were poisoned for 19 months. There were warning signs—off-tasting water, body rashes, itchy skin, hair loss—yet government officials told the residents that the water was just fine. It took almost two years of poisoning for the government to wake up after researchers pointed to elevated levels of lead in children.
Corruption in New York State and the country at large is so common that clean government has become an oxymoron. Have we become so inured to it that our attention cannot focus on the latest scandal for very long? Has our capacity for empathy become drained by serial horrors?
If my children were among the poisoned I would likely have to contain feelings of murderous rage, because acting on such impulses would do nothing to help my children.
Yet how do the parents of Flint cope with the knowledge that their children, with still-developing brains, may sustain cognitive impairments that will last a lifetime?
Gov. Whitmer reflected, “Trust was not broken overnight, and it’s not something you can earn overnight.”
The Detroit News reported that “many residents remain wary of the water amid fears that pipe replacement efforts could dislodge lead flakes.” They likely remember that state regulators did not make sure that the city used corrosion control chemicals when it made the switch to the Flint River for its water supply in April 2014.
Will trust ever be restored by parents who understand that their children’s intellectual potential has been compromised by bureaucrats looking for a shortcut to balance the budget? What can one do or say to offer some relief? I cannot think of a thing. Can you?
Andrew Malekoff is the executive director of North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center, which provides comprehensive mental health services for children from birth through 24 and their families. To find out more, visit www.northshorechildguidance.org.
by North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center | Apr 11, 2019 | Blog
Today is National Pet Day, but in reality, for the estimated 65% of U.S. households that own a pet (nearly 80 million homes), every day is Pet Day!
The benefits of having a pet in the family are enormous, impacting physical, mental and emotional wellbeing.
Dog owners, in particular, reap health rewards when they walk and play with their favorite four-legged family members. But research shows that interactions with any type of pet reduce stress and increase the production of “feel good” hormones such as oxytocin.
All kids, whether or not they have mental health challenges, benefit from their relationships with their pets, but introducing pets into therapeutic settings is especially powerful, helping children feel loved, teaching them skills to self-soothe and much more. (To read more about the benefits of pet therapy, click on our blog from May 2018.)
If you are considering bringing a pet into your family, it’s important to be sure you and your children are ready to take on the responsibility of pet ownership. Here are seven factors to consider:
- Kids will promise the moon and stars to get a pet, but as the adult, you are likely going to be the one who does most of the caretaking, so make sure you are ready for the responsibility.
- Caring for pets—especially dogs and cats—can be an expensive proposition, with estimates running from $500 per year to well over $1,000. Click here to find the results of a survey on the cost of owning various pets.
- Do you have little ones in the house? Children under three or four need to be supervised with pets at all times, since they may be impulsive and risk harming the pet or themselves.
- When choosing a pet, do your research. The pet should be a good match for your lifestyle. For example, if you live in an apartment, you might want to avoid getting a highly active dog (regardless of size). But if you have a fenced-in yard and enjoy tossing the ball around, an energetic pup may be exactly the right fit.
- Are you out of the house for a large part of the day? Pets require care and love, so if you and your family aren’t home most of the time, a dog or even cat might not be the right pet for you.
- Do your kids have asthma or other allergies? Despite the hype, there really are no allergy-free cats or dogs—but there are some breeds that are less allergenic than others. Ask your vet for some suggestions.
- Please adopt from a shelter and save a life. If you decide that you want a specific breed or your heart is set on the type of dog you had as a kid, consider a rescue or shelter pet. Read more shelter adoption tips here.
The best thing about having pets: Children and adults of all ages receive unconditional love, and what could be more important?
Sources:
https://moderndogmagazine.com/articles/factoid-can-you-guess-how-many-us-homes-have-pets/89271
https://www.aacap.org/aacap/families_and_youth/facts_for_families/fff-guide/pets-and-children-075.aspx
https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/the-health-benefits-and-risks-of-pet-ownership
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/your-dog-can-make-you-feel-better-and-heres-why/2016/09/19/fde4aeec-6a2a-11e6-8225-fbb8a6fc65bc_story.html?utm_term=.767bd1f323d7
https://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-it-costs-to-own-dog-cat-other-pets-2018-4
https://www.humanesociety.org/resources/top-reasons-adopt-pet
by North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center | Apr 11, 2019 | In The Media
Kiwanis of North Shore donated $1,000 to support the mission of North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center. (From left) Leslie Kle and Jenna Kern-Rugile.
by North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center | Apr 8, 2019 | In The Media
Did you know that 650 million women and girls alive today were married as children and 12 million girls under 18 are married each year? Globally, around 21 percent of young women were married before their 18th birthday, according to UNICEF.
UNICEF — now called The United Nations Children’s Fund but originally known as the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund — was founded in 1946. It was created to offer emergency food and health care to children and mothers in countries that had been devastated by World War II.
I was awakened to this issue while attending the 36th Social Work Day at the United Nations on April 1, 2019. The theme for the day was “Strengthening Human Relationships: Policies and Programs to Protect Children.”
I must confess that I am typically focused on what is happening closer to home, but the information presented by a panel of UN diplomats, policy officers and child protection specialists, as well as front-line social workers, was eye-opening.
In addition to child marriage, the international group of experts focused on a number of other disturbing statistics such as the astounding number of children that are forced into labor from as early as five years old. Worldwide, 218 million children between 5 and 17 years are employed and 73 million work in hazardous conditions
Although the presentations were all compelling, I was particularly interested in how the issue of child marriage manifests itself in the U.S.
The facts are that, although child marriage happens mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, more than 200,000 minors (mostly girls) were married in the United States between 2000 and 2015, and not only in rural areas as is widely believed.
The minimum legal age that young people are permitted to marry in most states in our country is 18, although in six states that age is as low as 14 or 15.
But there are a number of “loopholes,” reported social worker Bushra Husain from NYC-based Sanctuary for Families. For example, if one of the parties is pregnant or if the minor has given birth to a child, then in 47 states, marriage is permitted for children under 18.
Child marriage is a violation of human rights that remains widespread despite laws against it. It can forestall their education and lead to a lifetime of suffering including high rates of domestic violence and the deaths of young adolescent girls due to more complications in pregnancy and childbirth than for women in their 20s.
Furthermore, their children are more likely to be stillborn or die in the first month of life.
The good news is that there is a movement toward change. In 2018, New Jersey and Delaware became the first states to outlaw marriage for anyone less than 18 years of age, with no loopholes.
UNICEF reports that strong bills to end child marriage are currently pending in 11 state legislatures. To learn more about this, go to the link for this special 2018 report by Sarah Ferguson entitled: “What you need to know about child marriage in the U.S.” https://www.unicefusa.org/stories/what-you-need-know-about-child-marriage-us/35059
H.E. Georgi Panayotov, an ambassador to the UN from Bulgaria, tied the day together with a caution by Nelson Mandela: “History will judge us on the difference we make in the everyday lives of children.”
Andrew Malekoff is the Executive Director of North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center, which provides comprehensive mental health services for children from birth through 24 and their families. To find out more, call (516) 626-1971 or visit www.northshorechildguidance.org.
