Shining Lights Week 6, Term 2, 1/6/2023
An apple a day 
A colleague (thanks Mrs Baker) recently pointed me at an article which appeared in The Australian in late May by Sarah Berry, ‘Why do ultra-processed foods make us so sad?”
Like many of the ongoing issues with parenting and the pastoral care of children in schools (and, yes, education has been trying to address it for years) there is the question of diet. I don’t smirk at Primary fruit break any more.
Among the claims:
- “the Journal of Affective Disorders, found that a diet high in ultra-processed foods (UPFs) can increase the risk of depression by as much as 23 per cent.”
- the likelihood of developing depression jumps when ultra-processed foods make up around 30 per cent of the total diet.
- About one in five Australians over the age of 16 experiences a mental illness in any one year, with depression being one of the most common. By some estimates, ultra-processed foods account for nearly 40 per cent (38.8 per cent) of the average Australian adult’s diet.
- We can spot UPFs because they are typically packaged in plastic and have one or more ingredients that we don’t tend to have at home including alphanumeric additives like emulsifiers, humectins, stabilisers, colourants and flavours. They barely resemble food at all and are instead, as the author of a new book on UPFs put it, “addictive edible substances”.
- “UPFs include many products that might be considered by consumers as ‘neutral’ or even ‘healthy’ like flavoured yoghurts, diet soft drinks, protein bars, packaged preparations such as scrambled eggs, mashed potatoes and many ready-to-h/eat convenience foods.”
So that’s all pretty self evident. Reduce screen time, eat well, sleep well, get some exercise… you’ve heard it all before, but as we know it is not easy in whole, or in part, to keep it all up amidst teenage angst and changing family dynamics. As with many things during the teenage years, we as parents just need to maintain the consistent line as best we can, perhaps bring the grocery list into family focus. Give the kids responsibility for making the decisions (within strict parameters of course). Provide the nutritionally sound options and then ignore the loud complaints. Even let them go hungry when they refuse to eat well. They won't starve!
Hang in there. As the owner of a number of skin cancers (about a hundred stitches worth at last count, and they are the gift that keeps on giving) I am forever into kids about wearing hats…I know it’s not politically correct, but a bit of muscle now will save much grief down the track.
I’ll tell you another story.
I know an old bloke who had what the doctor’s called diverticulitis which runs something along the lines of the bowel perforating, followed by other unpleasant things like peritonitis and sepsis. Said old bloke doesn’t recommend it for a jolly good time.
The doctors suggested that the likely cause was many years of poor diet lacking in fibre.
Stuff can catch up with you, but more immediately the link between diet and adolescent mental health demands consideration.
e-Safety
Last week, as part of e-Safety Week, the Year 3 classes took part in class and online activities to learn more about Cyber Safety and the best ways they can keep themselves safe online. Just like any activity that children take part in, they need to learn about the safe way to participate and the unsafe ways. Think about learning to cross a road, ride a bike or as they get older, drive a car. The children were engaged in the virtual classroom lessons and had heaps of great questions, both online and when the lessons were finished.
I have been working as an educator using ICT for teaching and learning for a long time. Interactive Mathematics and Literacy sites, Robotics, Coding, Games based learning, Minecraft education and now 3D Printing have been familiar sites in my classroom for well over ten years. In this time, the way children and adults access and use the internet has changed but the key messages the students were learning in e-Safety Week are the same messages from when I started teaching with ICT technologies.
First and foremost, students learn that they should not share any personal details online, even when talking to trusted friends and family. There is always the risk that another person can come across this information.
They learn that they should only communicate online with people that they know in real life.
They learn that everything they place online has a digital footprint so they should only say and post things online that they would say in real life.
Also, they learn that the most important thing to stay safe online is to have a trusted adult, like their parents, that they can talk with and share what they are doing online and to tell if they have any interactions online that make them uncomfortable.
There are some great resources available from the e-Safety Commissioner for parents, teachers and students to access. These are readily available and easy to find by following this link.
I find one of their best resources is the e-Safety Guide. This is a guide to many of the most popular gaming and social media sites that children use. It explains the best way to use each site when staying online, including setting in app restrictions and recommended ages for use. If you are looking for a place to start to talk with your children about being safe online, I find this a great place to start.
https://www.esafety.gov.au/key-issues/esafety-guide
Choosing Senior Subjects
Choosing senior subjects is an exciting time- you've finally got control over what you study and how you spend (some of) your time.
Many students feel the pressure to make the 'right' choice, and with such a large number of things to consider, the process can become overwhelming.
This process is the first significant chance young people have to exercise control over their pathways, and it marks a major milestone in their transition to senior school.
I would suggest start by asking the following questions of your young person:
- What do you enjoy?
- What motivates you?
- What are you interested in?
Students will enter a challenging workforce and will need more than just academic skills to keep up.
Prerequisites are still a factor, as is the selection of subjects for ATAR. Each year, the number of students who use their ATAR alone to get into university goes down - more and more students are finding pathways to university, not just their ATAR. Other activities, such as team sport, part time work, or community service will be as important as their ATAR, and students should consider their decisions in context with the range of activities they will need to undertake in Year 11 and 12 to prepare to leave school.
Students change. The average Year 10 student is 15 years old. A lot can happen between subject selection and leaving school, and there is a fair chance that students will change their mind to some extent. Pursuing things, they are passionate about will drive them forward. Recent surveys have shown us that students are more motivated and do better when they are following their passions. When students feel more passionate about the subject they put more effort in, spend more time on it, pay more attention in class, get better marks, are more resilient and even go beyond what their teachers ask of them.
While we cannot expect 15 year old's to have the level of career maturity required to rationally and logically assess all their options, we can help them select subjects they will find engaging, and which will help them get off on the right foot.
