When the Twentieth Century Pictures company had their expensive merger with the Fox Film Corporation in 1935, studio head Daryl Zanuck was depending on two contract stars to pull the new company through its money troubles. Tragedy struck the same year when Will Rogers died in a plane crash in Alaska. Zanuck turned his financial burden on the shoulders of six year old Shirley Temple (she was actually seven but wouldn’t find that out till she was twelve).
Fox had signed her in 1933, a bad year for Hollywood with record numbers of movie theaters closing throughout the country. Her ability to sing and dance was off-putting to some scouts at the studio who called her,”a precocious little monster”. Later when she became their chief financial asset the attitude around the lot changed. One time little Shirley walked into the commissary and was picked up by a friendly executive,” How are you doing sweetheart?” The room went quiet. Everyone was staring. If he dropped her, everyone there could lose their job. Very gently he put her down and backed away.
In real life Shirley the actress longed to have a normal existence, so Zanuck made her yearn for the same on the big screen. Depression era audiences fell in love with her determination and optimism. Because her films required no great special effects, locations or famous co-stars, they made enormous profits making her perhaps the most valuable movie star a studio ever had, which occasionally caused resentment. She once had a scene with Lionel Barrymore who flubbed a line then screamed bloody murder when she corrected him. Another time she worked with Adolph Menjou who left the set cursing,” That little blankety blank is making a monkey out of me.” Not everyone felt that way. Her dancing partner in The Little Colonel (1935), Bill “Bojangles” Robinson often held hands with Shirley as they walked together through the Fox lot. And John Ford who resented Daryl Zanuck assigning him to direct Shirley in Wee Willie Winkie (1937) came to respect the child’s work ethic. Zanuck rightly blamed Ford’s bad influence when Shirley started to address the short mogul as “Uncle Pipsqueak.”
She was a highly merchandised fad. She could have retired on the sales of Shirley Temple dolls alone. Once Director Alan Dwan was speeding to Twentieth Century Fox when he was pulled over by a policeman. “Ok buddy where’s the fi– Say! Is that one of those Shirley Temple police badges on your passenger seat? My daughter would kill for one of those. OK buddy, give me one of those badges and we’ll forget the whole thing.”
Shirley’s career was guided largely by her over protective mother Gertrude who would grab her by the shoulders before each scene and say,” Sparkle Shirley, sparkle.” Zanuck frustrated Mrs. Temple by not allowing Shirley to play more varied parts (not realizing she was a child, George Bernard Shaw offered her the lead in his stage version of Caesar and Cleopatra). Zanuck felt Shirley’s spunky movie character had to be repeated for her to stay popular. Gertrude would demand that the studio cut any scene where another child looked better than her daughter. This caused great distress for other parents who retaliated by starting a rumor that Shirley was actually a midget.
Shirley’s conservative banker father George had a difficult time dealing with the trappings of fame. One time he requested a meeting with Zanuck. “Mr. Zanuck, I want your advice about this fan mail I’ve been getting. I haven’t shown them to Gertrude and I’m tempted.” Zanuck was startled to read letters from women across the country wishing for George to father their children. Zanuck, who was famous for his own womanizing ways gave simple advice,”If you can’t promise them a little girl, stay loyal to your wife.”
Zanuck kept spies to inform him of the child’s activities at the studio. One time he interrupted a meeting with John Steinbeck to tend to her after hearing she had fallen and broke a tooth. On another occasion she was visited by HG Wells. Shirley was polite and after the famous author left, the little moppet was told she had just met the most important man in the world. “Uh uh. President Roosevelt is the most important man. And Governor Merriam is second.” Later Zanuck heard this report while furiously puffing on a cigar. “Who did she say is third?”
No matter how much Zanuck hid it on screen Shirley aged. When World War II broke out movie goers turned away from sentiment. Twentieth Century Fox began to make weightier films like Steinbeck’s The Grapes Of Wrath (1940). Shirley was declared over the hill at the age of ten. As a teen she became more independent. Without her mother to push her she never achieved the same acting success as an adolescent that she had as a child. But her grit and determination represented the American spirit to the world. A false report of her death in Hirohito’s Japan in 1943 set off a wild celebration in the streets.
Tag Archives: child
Stop Lying NOW
Do you have a consistent problem with your child lying to you, even though he or she is normally a “good” child? Sometimes the lies are even about things that don’t really matter or your child continues to lie in the face of overwhelming proof to the contrary?
It is my firm belief that we will not end lying behavior in our children until we take away the consequences for telling the truth. This is a concept explored in greater detail within Nancy Buck’s book, Peaceful ParentingВ®.
How many times as a child were you told by your parents that you wouldn’t get into “as much” trouble if only you would be honest and tell the truth? I think this must be a rule in Parenting 101 because almost every parent I know has uttered this inalienable truth at least once with their children. Do you remember what you heard when you were told that as a child? I do.
What I actually heard is: if you keep on lying, you are going to really get into trouble. You already lied so you are at pretty high risk of getting into serious trouble. But, if I stick to my story, then there is a possibility there will be no punishment. No one likes to be punished. So it is logical that most children will choose the path that is least likely to result in pain. This, to most children, means the lying route.
I am proposing that if you want to decrease your child’s lying, then you need to say, “As long as you tell me the truth, you will not be punished.” This is a huge shift for many of you and you are probably asking yourself, “But what if my child did something that requires punishment—something seriously against the rules?” I still say remove the consequences for lying and you will more likely get the truth.
Before you come to this decision, though, you must decide whether or not you really want the truth. A few years ago, I was speaking to the mother of one of my sons’ friends. She was very upset that a boy had stayed at her home and slept on top of the same bed with his girlfriend. Now, this mother was aware that both the boy and girl were sleeping at her house but she did not want them to share a bed. The two disregarded her wishes but felt they were complying with the main issue by sleeping on top of the covers, fully clothed. When the mother discovered them early in the morning, still sleeping, she was livid. She called me to vent her frustration. In her ravings, she said, “Well, I know I did the same thing and worse but at least I had the decency to lie to my parents!” I asked her if she really preferred being lied to and she responded affirmatively.
Now, if you are a parent who would really rather not know, then this article is not for you. I am writing to those parents who want to know the real truth about what is going on with their children and who can handle the truth when presented with it, rather than feeling the urge to punish their child.
My sister-in-law came to me for advice in dealing with her 11 year-old daughter who has developed a lying habit, particularly around her school work. She tried everything. She had mentioned the universal law: “If you tell me the truth, you won’t get into near as much trouble as if you lie to me”. My niece stuck to her story like glue. Then my sister-in-law began to take away extracurricular activities to hopefully impress upon my niece the importance of her school work. All of this was common sense but what do you think happened to the lying? It continued without impact.
When she came to me, I advised her to take away the consequences for telling the truth. She couldn’t believe what I was suggesting she do. Now, I was not saying that she and my niece wouldn’t have a conversation about whatever the problem was. And I wasn’t saying that they wouldn’t make a plan for more effective behavior in the future but there would be no consequence for telling the truth. Even though it’s in the beginning stages, my sister-in-law already reported improvement.
All she has to do now is remind my niece that there will no punishment if she tells the truth, and my niece has been coming clean. The advantage to this is that you, the parent, aren’t spending a lot of time attempting to “get to the bottom of things”! You don’t have to play detective and go on a fact-finding mission. You get the truth up front and then you know what it is that you really need to manage.
The advantage is that you can take a collaborative approach with your child on how to do it better the next time. You can spend your time discussing what got in the way of your child being successful and how can you, together, remove those obstacles. This is so much more relationship strengthening than trying to figure out who’s telling the truth and who isn’t and then doling out the appropriate punishment for the lie. Wouldn’t you rather put an end to lying and get at the real source of the problem?
Try it and see if it helps. But don’t do it if you would prefer not knowing!
Buying Your Child a Digital Camera- What You Need To Know
Purchasing any gift item for your child is a mind-numbing task. You can never be sure whether they will like what you buy for them or not. So, when you want to buy a digital camera for your little kids, then there are lots of things, which you must know, which will help you (hopefully!) to get the right camera for your child.
One of the most important things for children is that the digital camera should be one of the latest available in the market. If it has been heavily advertised and people are talking about it, then it is even better. This gives children a sense of pride and also allows them to show-off’ their possession to their friends.
Another factor, which is critical for children, is that the camera must look good. This is very, very important to them. It does not matter whether it has a big screen or small screen, whether it is 2 mega pixel or 1.5 mega pixel the camera should have a smart shape, come in flashy colors or it can also look cute or funky. But, the camera should not look boring’ or very serious’ in nature. However good the functions might be, if the camera does not look good, it is most likely that your choice will get rejected.
The size is also important. Most children will definitely prefer a digital camera that is small and compact in size. The weight and size should be such that they are able to easily put the camera in their pocket or hang it by a string. Large and bulky models, even if they have better features are not advisable for children.
It is also necessary to remember that even though you might gift your child a digital camera to click photographs for school projects, they will be using it to take pictures of their friends. So, look for some fun’ features in the digital camera. These can include colorful background images or sound effects, photographic effects that they can use to enhance the images taken by them.
One more thing is ease of use. It is important that the camera has a simple system through which children can easily take pictures quickly. However, you really do not need to worry about this aspect a lot because today’s children have been born in the digital era. They are able to pick up things much faster than you or me, so as long as the camera is good in all other aspects, even if its click ability’ is a little confusing, it does not really matter. They are fast learners these days!
Last but not the least, is the price. While buying a digital camera for your child, it is understandable that you really do not want to spend a lot of money. There are lots of choices available in the market today. The price range starts from as low as $30 and can go up to $300. So, it really depends on how much you would like to spend on the camera. Start simple and upgrade if they grow out of the digital camera that you buy for them. Hey share them with the whole family!
When your child dies
Children are the most special part of life. Losing a child is something that few really understand. Even a brief life offers so much that is special. My Daughter Katie Lindsey Rose, died July 1992. She was just five weeks old. I held Katie after she died and can never, would never, forget Katie as a person or my daughter. I also found out how hard it is for so many to talk about the death of their child.
Many people find it easier to talk about the death of your mom, dad or your wife or husband than their child. But, this is often a time that you do want to talk or share feelings. You often get from people she doesn’t want to talk about it. But it helps to talk. After your child dies you have feelings of disbelief, denial, anger, depression, hopelessness, guilt. Loss of appetite, sleep patterns change, we cannot get through the mourning alone. It is important to talk about the death, what you’re feeling and it’s ok to cry.
The doctor came into the room. The operation was over. He sat down and started to tell my husband and I about the surgery. The surgery was over but during the surgery there was a blood clot that burst and Katie died instantly. How could I go home without my baby? Shock was not the word for what I felt. Katie’s been gone 11 years now. I remember just after she died everyone was right there offering to help me. (Now I’d be lucky if they remember). Then the people stopped coming, calling, I would see people in the grocery store, and they would look at me, turn their head, and walk off, as if I had something contagious that they could catch.
I remember a mother had her baby the same time as Katie. She said to me,” I’m so glad it was not my daughter”. My oldest daughter is growing up and it’s starting to get scary cause I know Ill never see Katie get married or have children. I feel Angry, like I have been let down by Katie. Its normal to feel let down by the person who died or when you are looking for someone to blame for his or her death.I blamed God for the longest time and I blamed myself.
Anger is very common following the death of a child. In fact following any death you may find yourself angry, angry at the world. You will often find that you take out this anger on those closest around you. You find yourself saying my child should not of died.
How do you imagine life without your child? “They were too young”, “They were too good”, “They were too healthy, “They never sin” “Why God Why?”, “I can’t survive without him or her”. All of these are common feelings. Your fear is, you are afraid it will happen again, that you will loose another child or someone close to you. You begin to be a little over-protective of your other children.Please know that you are never alone, It’s ok to say I hurt, to say I’m scared, to say I need a friend. No matter how old your child is when they die, the pain of loosing your child is still the same. Its very difficult for most to find the words of comfort to say to you, but there are places you can turn, people you can talk to when you feel your loosing it. You can’t do this on your own.
Katie had suffered from congenital heart disease, Congenital means inborn or existing at birth. Among the terms you may hear are congenital heart defect, congenital heart disease and congenital cardiovascular disease. The word “defect” is more accurate than “disease.” A congenital cardiovascular defect occurs when the heart or blood vessels near the heart don’t develop normally before birth. Katies’ story is just one of a million parents’ stories out there. As I surf the net I found so many, but there is help.
8 Simple Tips To Help Your Child Read
Take away the skill of reading and not only books become a mysterious and foreign world, but reading train timetables, ordering from a menu, understanding bank statements, and any number of straightforward daily activities become virtually impossible.
If your child is struggling to read, the effects of their problem can reach into adulthood, be humiliating, and extremely limiting.
The world of a non reader is a mixed up place where only those who know the тАШsecret code’ can decipher the strange symbols around them and fully participate.
A sad, lonely, and stressful place indeed.
The time to catch your child’s reading problems and support them in their quest to become a confident and capable life long reader is Primary School. Preferably before they reach Grade 3.
Your school will be monitoring your child’s progress and implementing a detailed plan to improve their reading skills and strategies. But, if you’re worried that the school is not, then an appointment with the teacher is a must to thoroughly explore your concerns and issues.
Do not put this off!
After Grade 3 it is more difficult for children to bridge the gap, learn new patterns of reading behaviour, and develop appropriate reading strategies.
Encouraging them while they’re young is vital, and there are some things you can do at home to complement and support your school’s efforts.
Here are 8 simple ways to help your child if reading is a struggle for them:
1. Make your reading time a regular activity at a specific time each day. Children love structure and will look forward to the closeness and bonding this time brings.
For some children this may be the only intimate one-on-one time they get to spend with a parent on a regular basis. Making reading together a special time for just the two of you only takes 10 or 15 minutes a day, and the rewards are tremendous.
2. Vary how you structure your reading time together. Don’t always expect your child to read to you. Read to them sometimes. Take turns reading. Read out loud together! Make sure it’s a stress free and enjoyable time together.
3. Use the 3 P’s. Pause, prompt, praise.
Pause when your child comes to a word they don’t know. Don’t jump in straight away by telling them the word or getting them to sound it out. Let them think.
Prompt your child if they haven’t answered after about 10 – 20 seconds. Say тАШMake your mouth say the first sound’, or тАШ What word would make sense there?’, or тАШCan you tell me what would sound right there?’. Only sound out the word if it can be effectively sounded out.
If your child doesn’t get the word after a couple of prompts or an attempt at sounding out, tell them the word straight away. You want to avoid feelings of failure, plus make sure they get on with the book while they can still remember what the story is about.
Praise your child for their efforts. Say something like тАШWell done, you made it look and sound right’, or тАШWell done, you used the first sound to help you figure out the rest of the word’. If they didn’t get the word, simply praise them for trying their best тАШThat was a great try – well doneтАШ. Be as specific as possible.
4. Not every single word has to be right. Refrain from picking on every last error unless you want to make your child feel inadequate and fearful of making too many mistakes. This will contribute to their negative attitude towards reading and make their progress even slower.
If your child is gaining the overall meaning from the story or text, then they are achieving the major goal of reading – to decipher words and receive a message.
5. Talk, talk, talk… Ask your child to retell their favourite part of the book in their own words. Talk about what they would do if they were a person from the book. Talk about the way the characters in the book felt and why they felt like that. Talk about interesting words from the book and what they mean. This will help increase your child’s level of comprehension.
6. Be seen to be a reader. It’s surprising how many kids never see their own parents reading a book. A newspaper yes – but not a book! Kids are the greatest mimics in the world, and they especially love to copy their mum or dad.
Sit down and read your own separate books at the same time. Share parts of your books with one another by reading them out loud and telling why you chose that part. Make it obvious that reading is something you personally value and think is worthwhile.
7. Don’t cover up the pictures! Never. Ever. Using pictures is one of the ways children gather information to support their use of sound, letter, and word skills. Pictures support the meaning of a story and provide a context to help children solve unknown words.
Picture story books have pictures for a reason. Many times the text doesn’t make sense without the pictures, and asking your child to read it without looking at the pictures will often feel like trickery to them.
8. Last but definitely not least – make reading fun! The last thing it needs to be is a chore. You canтАШt blame any child for being unwilling if something is hard AND a bore.
Find books about topics your child is interested in. Read craft books and make things. Get out a cookbook and follow a recipe. Get out the words to favourite songs and follow along. Create a treasure hunt with lots of clues to read – anything that makes reading something to look forward to.
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Make your reading time together regular, interesting, stress free, and fun. Your child will benefit, and so might you!
Activity + Poor Food Choices = Non Healthy Lifestyle
One of the biggest misconceptions people have today is what constitutes a healthy lifestyle. Just because you exercise does not mean you are healthy. I hear much too often, oh, I can eat this because then I will work 30 or 40 minutes on the treadmill, jogging, walking, (fill in the blank with the exercise of choice). NO, NO, NO! Once in a while transgressions are one things, however, if you want to be healthy you need to eat healthy and exercise, the two go hand in hand.
Now, think about this, if you think this way as an adult, what are you teaching your children. Yep, that is it OK to eat junk food as long as you are active. Not only that, so many parents, say well my kids eat all this stuff but don’t gain any weight, so it is OK. NO IT IS NOT! While on the surface, you think it is, it is doing major damage to both yours and your child’s body. Think high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
Remember folks the old adage “you are what you eat” applies here. We all carry over what we learn in our childhood into our lives as adults. You are setting the foundation here for a lifetime of bad eating for your child. Do you really want to do that? No, I don’t think so. So you need to set an example and start eating healthier and continue to be active. Right now the majority of children that are active are doing so through after school or organized sports activities that interest them. However, what happens when they get older, when these activities are no longer a part of his/her life. You got it, sedentary behavior because you didn’t provide the role model they needed for a healthy lifestyle. You need to provide them with other choices besides just sporting activities: walking, jogging, riding, jumping rope, aerobics to name a few.
It is one of your responsibilities as a parent to teach your children about healthy eating and the importance of activity not only as a child but as they grow into adulthood. So you need to be a good role model. We have discussed in other articles, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, and walking from the far end of the parking lot. Joining a gym or having exercise equipment (bikes, trampolines, DVDs) in your home. One of the cutest things is for a young child to watch their mom or dad watching a video or working out on a piece of exercise equipment and trying to emulate them. What a perfect opportunity for you to show them how to dance, jog, jump rope so they can do something right along with you.
Next be sure you let them be active in the planning and preparation of meals. Let them give their input. Take the time to talk to them about the foods you are making and they are eating. And please don’t tell me you don’t have the time, make the time or in all honesty why did you have children!
Yes, we want our children to be active and involved. However, one big caveat here is to limit the number of activities your children get involved with. Too many children today join everything to please their parents and they are exhausted! So be realistic with their time just as you would be with yours. Be sure to emphasize to your child that they don’t have to be involved in everything. Emphasis that if they do too much they are going to make compromises in one or more activities and that isn’t fair to that particular group. Talk to them about down time. Be sure they know it is OK to relax. We need balance in our life and the only way to be sure we do is to do everything in moderation and get that down time for ourselves. Relaxing restores our balance which is so very important for healthy living.
So let’s start today to show our children that Healthy Eating + Activity = Healthy Lifestyle!
A Child’s Self Image
With all the focus on weight today it is not surprising that children are starting to look at their bodies at earlier ages. Children as young as 7 years of age are asking parents about their bodies. Where are they getting it from? Well, I would imagine television, magazines and the internet are some of the places. However, as we were all children once, it is also coming from other children. I can still remember well kids making fun of other children. While I never participated in it, I was a recipient of it, so I know how it feels. While mine wasn’t weight related, it still hurts. From what I am seeing and reading it is even nastier and more prevalent in our schools today.
So, what do you say to your child when they ask you if you think they are overweight, fat, or whatever adjective was used by another child when taunting them. As hard as it is, you will need to convey to your child that everyone is different. How we look and grow will depend on how we take care of our bodies. Explain to them how body types are dependent upon family, eating habits and physical activity. Also be sure to tell them that they are and will be growing and changing until their teens. If you have pictures of yourself or others in childhood and then adulthood show them those pictures to give them an idea of changes that occur.
Please be sure to talk to your child and do so carefully and seriously about this. It is very very important that your child realize he must eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, to take his/her vitamins and to drink their milk. Don’t just ignore this discussion. Children are growing up faster and faster today and becoming aware much earlier in life of their body image. How children and adults view themselves is one of the classic signs of anorexia and other eating disorders.
If you feel you are not qualified to handle their questions, please consult a professional to do so.
It is Almost Prom Season
Proms Season Is Almost Here
Is your child going to a school prom or formal this year? If so there are quite a few things you may want to consider. For starters make sure you know who your child will be going to the prom with. Make sure you ask all the questions, you’ll want to know where they’re going, what they will be doing, and what time they will be home.
If there are any parties afterwards you want to make sure it is either a school sponsored event, or if it is in someone’s home that there will be parental supervision. It is proven fact that kids are more than 80% more likely to try drugs or alcohol if they are left unsupervised in the mix of peer pressure.
You also need to make it perfectly clear that if there is any drinking involved, that they do not need to fear any repercussions should they need to call for a ride. Of course there will be repercussions, but don’t make that the reason for them not to call you. Thinking back to my senior prom, I would’ve been more afraid to call my parents for a ride and to tell him I had been drinking. They do not do anything to make me feel that way, they were just very strict, and did not come out and say it would be okay to call for a ride.
Does My Child Have Migraine? 5 Things To Consider
Maybe you have migraine yourself, or someone you know does. You start to wonder if your child is going through the same thing. They might be complaining of headaches, or going through cycles of symptoms that are familiar to migraine sufferers. Here are 5 things to keep in mind as you try to help your child:
1. Migraine can strike in children
More than half of the adult migraineurs (migraine sufferers) report that they had their first headache as a child. Of children with migraine, it’s estimated that about a third get their first attack before the age of 5. We know that children as young as 2 deal with migraine, and possibly even infants, although we still don’t understand exactly how infants interact with pain.
2. Don’t assume your child is just looking for attention
Sometimes it’s hard to tell if children are really suffering, or if they’re trying to get out of something. Some children of migraineurs may simply imitate the behavior that they’ve seen in a parent. Dr Sarah Cheyette, a pediatric neurologist and a mother herself, suggests that you not focus on the pain but tell your child they will “feel better soon”. At the same time, keep a close watch for yourself and try to see the patterns.
3. Remember that migraine is different in everyone
We’re all familiar with the headache pain that often goes along with migraine. But sometimes migraine attacks do not involve pain at all. Some people only see flashing lights. There’s nausea. Weakness. Pain in different areas, even the abdomen. Watch for overall patterns in your child that may be related. Look for times when their behavior changes. When they’re sick to their stomach. It’s up to you to watch for symptoms that your child may not even realize are there.
It was a long time before I was actually diagnosed with headaches. For a long time I just had a vague idea that I “didn’t feel well” at various times, though I couldn’t really explain it. Your child may be dealing with something similar. Write down what you observe and share it with your doctor.
4. When to contact a doctor
Contact a doctor right away if there is a sudden change in the headaches your child is experiencing. This is especially important if your child gets any of the following symptoms: stiff neck, fever, dizziness, problems breathing, blurred vision, or headaches that are made worse with exertion. Your doctor can guide you through further observation and testing.
5. Learn about the available treatments
There’s no reason to panic if you think your child may have migraine. Even if you’ve struggled with migraine for years yourself, treatments for your child may be different and more effective.
Don’t assume that your medication will work for your child. Many adult drugs have not been tested for children and are not known to be safe. The same goes for natural therapies.
However, there are very effective treatments for children. Many common painkillers may be sufficient, as long as they’re not taken too often (in many cases twice a week should be the maximum). For many, lifestyle changes can make a huge difference – more exercise, better eating habits, for example. One natural treatment that seems to work very well for children is biofeedback. When it comes to specific migraine drugs, recent trials have found certain doses of Imitrex to be helpful for children.
Children with migraine can look forward to treatments that were not even thought of ten years ago, and they live in a world where we have a far better understanding of migraine every year. Migraine does not have to ruin the life of a child, but can be an important challenge that you can help them through.
Got Wheels? Get A Helmet!
(NC)-Bikes, in-line skates, scooters and skateboards are popular with Canadian kids. These activities are great ways to keep fit, but it’s important to remember the risks that come hand-in-hand with kids on wheels.
In Canada, thousands of children and teens are injured every year doing wheeled activities. For that reason, Safe Kids Canada, a national child safety program, has launched the “Got Wheels – Get a Helmet!” campaign this spring. Safe Kids Canada urges parents and caregivers to follow these three tips to keep their children safe:
1. Make sure your child wears a helmet whenever he or she is on wheels. Head injuries from wheeled activities can be devastating and even fatal. A properly fitting and correctly worn helmet cuts the risk of serious head or brain injury by up to 88 per cent.
2. Make sure your child wears the helmet correctly. A helmet needs to be worn correctly to protect the head. It should cover the top of the child’s forehead and sit level on the head. Each side strap should meet in a “V” shape around your child’s ears. The chin strap should be snug around the chin, but still comfortable. The helmet should not move when your child nods or shakes his or her head.
3. Supervise your child until at least age 8. Most injuries happen when children lose control of their equipment and fall. The ability to prevent falls requires practice as well as coordination and judgment, which develop with age. Supervise your child to ensure he or she knows all the safety rules and can use equipment properly. Keep your child away from cars and other vehicles.
For more information about safety on wheels, call Safe Kids Canada at 1 888 SAFE TIPS or visit http://www.safekidscanada.ca. The “Got Wheels – Get a Helmet!” campaign, held during Safe Kids Week, runs from June 3 to June 9 and is sponsored by Johnson & Johnson. J&J is providing an additional $100,000 to buy helmets for children from low-income families across Canada. During Safe Kids Week, a portion of each purchase of participating J&J and McNeil products will be donated to the program.
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