Last week I was involved in my church’s 3-day children school holiday camp as a volunteer. I was in charge of a group of 9 children, 5 boys and 4 girls from primary 1 and primary 2. A youth was assigned to help me out as this was the first time I participated, and I had no idea what was expected of me.
It was an enriching experience for me and I came home with three observations. For one, I learnt to handle ‘restless’ young boys which I totally had no experience at that point of time (as I only have daughters). I realised different methods had to be employed to make them obeyed instructions, or else they could climb over your head. Many a time they would ignore your verbal instructions but likely obeyed you if you told them of the consequences of disobedience beforehand. For example, they been made to sit on your lap if they refused to sit still. This is something embarassing and uncomfortable to them, thus acts as a deterrent.
The other thing I observed is that it seems more children are having food allergies. Out of the nine children, three of them have that, two boys and one girl. So I had to be very watchful when these children had their meals and tea breaks. They are normally allergic to dairy products, seafood, eggs, peanuts, citrus fruits. I Read that symptoms of allergies can take the form of eczema, general redness or rashes, and asthma. Frankly speaking, I couldn’t remember any of my classmates had that when we were young. No one really knows why allergies are on the rise among kids. But there are a number of theories put forward.
One explanation may be that the same percentage of kids has allergies, but we’re just doing a better job of diagnosing them. Kids certainly seem to be getting tested more often, and for more allergens, than they were in the past. Another theory is the hygiene hypothesis. It suggests that many ailments including food allergies may be on the rise due to our lack of exposure to certain germs, bacteria, and parasites. This lack of exposure may cause our immune systems, which should be attacking those foreign bodies, to attack us instead. This theory has no direct evidence. Yet some people think that there are allergens hiding in highly processed foods and we are exposed to such food at earlier ages, and maybe our bodies (and especially our immune systems) aren’t ready to handle them.
One more thing that I observed from this camp is that more people are having ‘unique’ names as I went through the children’s name list. None of the traditional Christian names like Paul, Peter,John, Mary makes it to the list. Instead I find names such as ‘Ansel’, Recnen’ unfamiliar and yet intriguing. Looks like the next time I can make a good guess the age group a person belongs to just by his/her name.
I would like to add to your observation of allergies in children. You attribute the allergies to better diagnosis and also to the allergens and better diagnosis and I have to agree with you. The better diagnosis which I would like to highlight also translates to schools where nowadays we have students who are diagnosed dylexic or ADHD or ADD. Like you, I do not remember any of my classmates in school having these food allergies or intellectual handicap. I believe that as society progresses, we become more aware of these problems and we make allowances for them. This has both negative and positive effects. It's definitely beneficial for the child as his/her well-being, health and self-esteem are taken into consideration. on the other hand, society has to spend more on doctors and specialists who diagnose these problems. When we did not have any of these diagnosis 40years ago in school, we survived, managed to get through exams and achieve moderate success in career and life! So what's the difference?
ReplyDelete