Healthy School News
Filter: For Teachers & Principals, For Parents
Decade of Digital Dependence (DDD)
While still debated, the potential for Internet or digital devices to have addictive qualities is an emerging concern. The intrusion of electronic devices (laptop, tablet, cell phone) allows students to divide attention between the classroom and other unrelated...
Eighth Grade Movie
Written and directed by Bo Burnham, Eighth Grade shows Kayla navigating her last days of Grade 8. The director captures early-adolescent awkwardness, pain and insecurities with empathy and a comic touch. Kayla is a painfully introverted middle-schooler who gives perky...
Taking Care of Your Mental Health
The Canadian Mental Health Association's Health Meter describes how understanding the characteristics that make up good mental health will help you determine how mentally fit you are. Try their other mental health activities: Work-Life Balance Quiz What’s Your Stress...
Helpful Wellness Modules
The Here to Help website contains very useful wellness modules. Here to Help is a project of the BC Partners for Mental Health and Addictions Information. Ups and downs are a normal part of life. We all feel a bit stressed out or struggle to cope with a problem from...
The Trap of Paradigm Paralysis
Paradigm paralysis can be defined as the inability or refusal to move beyond current models of thinking. I learned recently from my network that a middle school principal had decided not to continue with the transition program. Why would this happen when student...
We Matter
We Matter I Matter. You Matter. We Matter. Hope. Culture. Strength. We Matter is an Indigenous-led and nationally registered non-profit organization that is committed to Indigenous youth empowerment, hope and life promotion. The key project is the We Matter Campaign –...
Loneliness epidemic is harming the workplace
A new article in the Harvard Business Review says that despite our increasing connectedness, society is seeing rising levels of loneliness. This epidemic is not only harming people’s health, it’s also making workers less productive and engaged at work. To improve the...
Letting Go
If you blame other people for how you feel and think, you are out of control and your moods and feelings are dependent upon something or someone other than you. - www.drmartincollis.com The poet Francis described looking at some aspen trees as they surrendered their...
The 8 Health Habits Experts Say You Need in Your 20s
In the article The 8 Health Habits Experts Say You Need in Your 20s, experts in nutrition, obesity, cardiology and other health disciplines give their top health tips to young people starting to develop their eating and exercise routines. Staying healthy in your 20s...
The Truth About Teens and Alcohol
In The truth about teens and alcohol: Parents, researchers and students weigh in on drinking, Erin Anderssen talks to parents, researchers and high-school students across Canada about alcohol consumption. Peer pressure is different than it used to be, she finds, and...
How we’ve become dependent on our digital devices
The Great Disconnect Can we ever kick our smartphone addiction? was a discussion in January and February by phone and email. (Globe and Mail, February 17, 2018) The participants were: Norman Doidge, MD, a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, author. He is on the Research...
Becoming the Kind Father: A Son’s Journey
In his book Becoming the Kind Father: A Son’s Journey author Calvin Sandborn learns that difficulties need not lead him only to anger, isolation and contempt but can be lessons in opening the heart and connecting with others. “Like most men I was ashamed of speaking...
Children’s Mental Health: How to Instill GRIT in your kids
A 2012 Brigham Young University study looked at 325 families over a period of 4 years. The study found that fathers who practice “authoritative parenting” by granting kids autonomy, emphasizing accountability and explaining the reasons behind rules and children...
Dads: Get Engaged in Addressing Your Overall Health
Fathers Mental Health – This new website has been designed by two psychiatrists to help dads tackle mental health woes. The website acts as an information tool about services, products and research from around the world. The website provides an understanding and...
Less Mum and Dad
Maybe we’re not as good at parenting as we think. A new British study suggests that adults are lousy judges of their children’s health – a tiny fraction recognized clinical obesity in their youngsters, while fully 31 per cent underestimated their kids’ weight....
Time to Talk About Depression
The World Health Organization has identified depression as the leading cause of ill-health and disability world-wide. Latest figures from the organization estimated more than 300 million people were now living with depression – an 18% increase between 2005 and 2015....
Questions to ask to help get the right school fit
There are lots of choices but school selection can be tricky. Here’s a checklist you might want to think about. What personality does your child have? Consider strengths, weaknesses, needs, and interests. What environment would suit your teen? What are your family...
Parents, you are more powerful than you think
Parents, you are more powerful than you think. You can limit exposure to violent media, practice non-violent dispute resolution, communicate with your children and stay involved in their lives. Involving you in planning and implementation serves to reinforce the...
Value school health and follow this formula for success
Can a work/life balance be achieved?
This is the question. We hope to achieve a work/life balance but this can be difficult at times, or even impossible. A particular project or a family situation, for example, can take a colossal investment of time. An intense focus impacts on our life’s balance. All...
40% of Teen Boys Watch Porn: Study
MediaSmarts, a non-profit digital literacy organization, surveyed 5,436 young Canadian students across the country. They ranged in age from grades 4 to 11. Questions about sexuality were limited to students in grades 7 through 11. The evidence showed a concerning...
Hunger Games: Food for Thought
Obesity rates soaring worldwide! According to the most comprehensive global assessment ever conducted on obesity titled Global Burden of Disease Study 2013, the last 30 years has seen obesity rising everywhere in the world. Some of the most dramatic increases are...
Digital Obesity: Failing at Health
A first-of-its kind study compares physical activity levels of children around the world. Active Healthy Kids Canada compared children and youth in 15 countries. Most developed countries received high grades for physical activity infrastructure and programs, but...
Connected but Alone
Facebook. Twitter. Second Life. “Smart” Phones. Robotic Pets. Robotic Lovers. What don’t we use computers for? Sherry Turkle, the director of MIT’s Initiative on Technology and Self, describes in her book Alone Together a population more at ease with technologies than...
Where in the World is Absence?
Another bold call for action What are the unintended consequences of a wired world? In The End of Absence, author Michael Harris (Governor General Award winner) addresses the unintended consequences of a wired world and our relationship with the Internet as we turn...
Distressed Teens
A large-scale study has been tracking teens in Ontario for the last 20 years. One-third of students in the recent survey were found to have moderate to severe symptoms of psychological distress. The higher up the grades the worse the situation. “We are creating...
Beware the Slenderman
A digital bogeyman – the stuff of nightmares – has gained traction on the internet. The Slenderman is an online faceless monster linked to real life crimes. “The fact that he is crowd-sourced really shows that the facelessness is what is so appealing because we can...
Growing Up Digital
Read this three part series on the ways new technology is impacting kids and teens: Growing up digital: How the Internet affects teen identity. Part one: How digital culture is changing the way kids play Part two: How digital screens are changing the way we read Part...
Teen Zombie Syndrome
Teen zombies walk among us and they can’t be cured! Problem behaviours related to sleep loss: More risk-taking. Less self-control (emotional volatility). Drop in school performance. Drop in school attendance. Neuron growth in the brain hampered – leads to decrease in...
Teenage Whirlwind
Teenage Whirlwind Our students face severe challenges such as: Depression Loneliness Bullying Alcohol abuse Disordered eating These are the signals given by youth when they feel overwhelmed. Safeguard not only vulnerable youth, but also all youth. Be proactive by...