What children really need and how they can get it

Iphones have no place at the dinner table

John Ruskin, a leading English art critic of the Victorian era had it exactly right — “give a little love to a child, and you get a great deal back.” What happens when children are deprived or at least feel deprived of love? “You don’t love me!”; “If you loved me ….”

I recently read about a child killing another child  — inside a classroom. A 10 year old fifth grader died in North Carolina 2 days after the altercation. How does this happen? Children limited in loving interactions with their first teachers, their parents, are often lacking in social rules that govern behaviour. Is it not  a parent’s role, with love, to meet the demands of teaching proper conduct? 

What happened in that classroom that took it to the point where the teacher lost control of the situation?  So many questions. We’re not likely to hear much more about this given that both children are minors. Let’s hope the press doesn’t beat the proverbial dead horse and instead moves to the greater issue. The greater need. What can we, as thinking, feeling human beings do to ensure that children in our community are not lost in the shuffle? 

Today’s children seem to be living with an inordinate level of stress and I assert that a lot of it comes from one thing — lack of positive regard on a regular basis from the significant people in their lives — their parents. Refrigerator parents/emotionally absent parents really need to start taking stock of what their sitting on the proverbial sidelines is doing to their children.  The latest bit of technology — that much whined for tablet, the larger internet package to stream more movies, or the pricey running shoes or the best jeans will never be enough to fix what’s really wrong. There’s a wounded child inside that youthful body with the potty mouth and the bad attitude, wanting more and more stuff, when what he needs is a hug. Did over-indulgence with stuff create that ‘little monster’ Mom and Dad now describe? Step back and take a look. Who over-indulged? Is over-indulgence a sign of a parent’s own wounded inner child?

Technology has significantly and forever changed the landscape with regard to how people interact and that includes children; from the very young, even pre-verbal, to the much older, high school student. Don’t get me wrong, technology is a great thing. I’ve been able to appreciate all manner of opportunities since travelling on the ‘information highway’. Long before that, though, I had in the world, real life, up close and personal interactions with real people, doing real things from going to school, to playing outside as a child, to hanging out with friends in university and during my work life, to playing the role of wife and stepmother during that phase of my life. For me, the internet replaces the bricks and mortar libraries that I was never able to visit with ease.

The internet and all that goes with it is a great tool for children — to learn; to connect with other young people around the world, sharing common interests, talking about what life is like where they live. All good things, right? Of course, but in moderation — especially during the formative years. Children are spending too much time tethered to technology; in fact, far too many are actually sleeping with it and that’s scary and sad at the same time. Parents, where are you? Oh, wait, you’re tethered to your own devices and not interacting, using your inside voices to engage with your children. 

That’s a huge problem, folks. Huge. Children will be better rested for improved school performance if technology stays out of the bedroom. Family relationships will blossom if  iPhones don’t have a place at the dinner table.

Children getting into fights with other children, children arriving at school appearing tired and ill-prepared for the day, children being in a perpetual state of upset, day after day. What’s going on? It’s important for teachers to ask soft questions with as little leading as possible. What’s actually more important, though, is for parents to be having real, meaningful conversations with their children on a daily basis. It doesn’t have to be a long drawn out affair — a check in and a check-up. These ‘mini meetings’ may well be the way to fend off a blow-up at school, in the classroom or on the playground. 

What children need each day and every day is the gentle, guiding hands and voices of the influencing adults in their world  - technology can never replace a hug or a “well done, son.”  Think about that the next time you sit down to watch television.  Call your child out from his room and his own television and go for a walk. Go ahead and talk, too! You’ve got this.

Carla MacInnis Rockwell is a freelance writer and disability rights advocate living outside Fredericton, NB with her geriatric Australian silky terrier and a rambunctious Maltese. She can be reached via email at carmacrockwell@xplornet.ca

Nurse practitioners and physician assistants fill important gaps

 

I echo Ted Flemming’s sentiments with regard to the function of the ER and the need for changes; changes that are long past due. Expanding physician hours is not the only solution; it’s simply a band-aid on a gaping wound that requires multiple sutures. 

Following Mr. Flemming’s assessment was a thought-provoking piece delivered by 3 ER physicians who paint a scary picture of the implosion of ER services. Is the system irrevocably broken? Perhaps not. Physicians assistants also had a say in the matter. The prognosis seems grim. Is it?

From my perspective, as armchair critic, what may contribute to health and wellness is a roster of nurse practitioners and physician assistants in every hospital across the province taking on all those patients with health/medical concerns that are clearly not emergencies. ER wait times have become life threatening. 6-12, 20 hour ER waits is is unacceptable. Full stop! Adding an extra layer of health care via nurse practitioners and physician assistants has potential to break into the flow of ER congestion as they are able to spend with the patient the time the doctor just doesn’t have. That time can be spent educating patients about what IS an emergency and what is not. Armed with knowledge reduces anxiety and may minimize the frequency of future ER visits.

Sometimes, ER traffic is comprised of frequent flyers, as I like to call them; not always those without a family doctor, but folks who think that every little thing, from a hangnail to a sniffle requires emergency medical attention.  And then there are those who fear they won’t get seen in a timely manner and avoid going to the ER when they really should, waiting to the point where an ambulance is called to their home. Sadly, it’s sometimes too late. A catch-22 to be sure. 

Funding to provide more physician hours has not been changed since 2004. Wait times are perilously long while physicians work diligently to break the back of the heavy load they carry. They cannot possibly do good medicine in circumstances that test their resolve to keep going. Sick patients get sicker and those who wait with them get understandably anxious. Then the pressure cooker of emotions explode. No winners.

We are a population that's aging, many in nursing homes; lots of men and women are aging in their own home but sadly, far too many find themselves aging in hallways and other spaces in hospitals because there are no nursing home beds. Equally sad is when an elderly couple has to be separated, with different nursing home placements. I’m sorry, but that’s cruel and inhumane. There’s no other way to spin it. Compassionate care must rule the plan of health services delivery.

From where I sit, we really are in full crisis mode, with too many people spending far too much time complaining about the flaws in the system instead of assessing their own contribution to that problem. Assessing what they can do in their own lives, on a daily basis, to limit their own over-use or even misuse of ER services. It’s not just about doctors, nurses and other clinicians and the care they provide. It’s about all of us.

If each community developed educational sessions on a biweekly basis, where people coul gather to get information about various concerns, I am certain that would go a long way to stemming the flow  to the ER of those who are experiencing nothing more than a bit of misguided fear, anxiety or loneliness. For some, the ER has becoming a social gathering place. Look around and see how many people come in as a group, when only one is the patient to be seen. Organising informal gatherings serves another purpose. It connects the isolated to people and potential goods and services they may require to enhance continued aging in place living. It reinvigorates communities and establishes new people connections. Providers of health care would be ideally suited to hold informal lecture series to meet, greet and educate.

A movement within communities to develop programs of service and learning would become the sutures to the wounds of isolation and loneliness experienced particularly by the most vulnerable — the elderly. Doctors would do well to ask more probing questions about lifestyle and how days are spent by those seniors who live alone. Signs of trouble would be evident with deficiencies in nutrition, lack of quality of sleep, worry about what’s to become of them when their circumstance changes. So many questions. Groups of like minded individuals within the community sharing those concerns and talking about them can ease the burden and concurrently improve physical and emotional health of the often disenfranchised.

Points to ponder.

Carla MacInnis Rockwell is a freelance writer and disability rights advocate living outside Fredericton, NB with her geriatric Australian silky terrier and a rambunctious Maltese. She can be reached via email at carmacrockwell@xplornet.ca

Me, my wheelchair and scooter, oh my

Carla's canine companions are MIA. They 'don't do rain'.

I’m 65! I have arrived! Arrived without any major ongoing health issues, testament to following the ‘you are what you eat’ and ‘use it or lose it’ school of living well daily.

From the age of 2ish to age 8, it was heavy metal waist-high braces with lots of leather; from 8-12, metal ankle-foot orthotics (AFOs).

Braces free from age 12 to date, save a few months in the 80s with a short-lived relationship with moulded plastic AFOs, I still rely on  axillary crutches, having never felt safe using the forearm crutches of my my toddlerhood. My current pair, beat up wooden things with attached ice picks thanks to A.R. Menzies, certified orthotists, are genuine antiques. I learned recently that the ice picks are not longer part of today’s crutches.

Last year my wheelchair, after 28 years of service was officially retired and, via Tango Medical, donated to the Easter Seals loaner program as it still had life left in it for the occasional user.

Just as with my ‘little red racer’ my new chair is not used full time. Instead, it’s for grocery and other shopping outings in the city where walking would be exhausting. Regardless of age, exhaustion is a key player in the life of one living with cerebral palsy. Having a chair that fits is very important as well; after a few false starts and taking some getting used to, not unlike breaking in a new pair of shoes, my new chair almost fits me.

I’ve lived outside the city for many years and as time passed it became clear that a wheelchair wasn’t going to be enough to cope with hilly roads, particularly given I have a wonky ticker and propelling a chair up even a slight incline made me feel sick. Since 1999, I’ve benefited from a mobility scooter that, on a daily basis for many years, was much enjoyed by my last terrier, Mr. Jake the Cairn.

Like me, the scooter is gettin’ on in years and starting to show its age, and like me, it requires a tweak every now and then. Several years ago, Trent Mundie, then with Apollo Medical visited me here at my home to assess my scooter; it was veering sideways — sorta like me! The tiller/steering mechanism was broken. Trent left me with a loaner while my scooter was being repaired — that’s service! Once fixed, Mr. Digby and I were back running the roads.

Like Mr. Digby and me, it hummed along great until this past winter when it was getting sluggish. I hoped it was nothing more than pooped out batteries as it came close to taking 3 men and a boy to get the seat off to dismantle the scooter into 3 easy pieces during previous repairs. Major muscle power would be required. I had been leery using the scooter in the winter for fear of it stopping and me being stranded. Recently, on a trash to the road trip, I knew I was in trouble when the battery indicator drifted into the white/red zone after only a short distance on a fully charged battery. There was no way I was going to do that again until the scooter was serviced.

A couple of weeks ago, since Trent, now with Embracor, wasn’t available to replace the batteries, he sent his colleague, Scott, who was prepared —  he brought along a little blow torch! When I told him how old the scooter was, he commented that it was in very good shape, going on to say that he’d seen scooters and wheelchairs only 2-3 years old that were really banged up — lots of wear and tear.  No doubt their users gave them a lot more daily use than I give mine.

Scott, from Embracor

Ready to Ride

For persons with mobility challenges, when something goes wrong with equipment, it’s critical that we have access to people who appreciate our need for mobility and safety. Thanks to A.R. Menzies, Tango Medical, Embracor, among others, we can live and work in the community, confident that our modes of transportation will be kept in tip-top shape.

Since the battery replacement, I was able to do what most homeowners do with ease — take out the trash. So confident was I that the scooter would work just fine, I hopped on, not bothering with shoes. Steering with one hand and holding  a box for disposal in the other, I made it to the end of my driveway. Mission accomplished. 

There was only one thing missing. The passing trucker didn’t honk his horn. Hey, I was color co-ordinated with robe, PJs n socks. Next time, I’m bringing a dog!

Carla MacInnis Rockwell is a freelance writer and disability rights advocate living outside Fredericton, NB with her geriatric Australian silky terrier and a rambunctious Maltese. She can be reached via email at carmacrockwell@xplornet.ca

Mr. Digby and me, aging in place together

In 2 days, Mr. Digby, already geriatric, will be 16 years old. Actually, he’s advanced geriatric; the term as it applies to a dog sets the age 11.5 for a small breed such as the D-dude. Just as with humans, the senior and geriatric dog experience similar declines and deficiencies which may include changes in sleep patterns, eating habits, daily routines and waning interest in things once enjoyed. Mr. Digby has, in a word, become persnickety.

I  am a senior. By definition, in medical terms, senior is more a function of chronological age - a number. As to geriatric, we think more in terms of health, of physicality, of overall well-being and how the body is performing or perhaps not performing.

For people and pets, fragility includes various combinations of the following: weakness, fatigue or exhaustion, weight loss, impaired balance, decreased physical activity, slowed motor performance, social withdrawal, mild cognitive dysfunction, increased vulnerability to physiological stresses.

It’s important to pay attention to cues that suggest insufficient nutrition, which contributes to significant declines in all aspects of daily living . Perhaps it’s time for a dentist appointment to check for cavities or disease that compromise proper chewing which would impact nutritional input. Ill-fitting dentures would also warrant investigation if eating has declined, particularly if there is noticeable weight loss.

From the outset, to promote exercise, Mr. D. was fed 1/4 cup of kibble morning and evening via a food dispensing ball. In recent months, however, he stopped ‘working for eats’. Hard kibble was the culprit. I started feeding him in the dish he came with, measuring out the portion and pouring warm water on it. His morning repast included an extra 1/4 cup of nutrient dense food to to counter the effect of weight loss due to chewing deficiencies with concurrent tooth loss. Though he’s shown no interest in the food ball, attempts to put it away failed. He wants it left right where it is! 

Persnickety entered the examination of Mr. Digby’s aging when he suddenly didn’t want kibble in his dog dish. Now, he enjoys fine dining from a cereal bowl, with a soft biscuit on top. He’s gone from a crunchy biscuit to a soft one, but he still takes it to the living room to eat before he comes back to the kitchen to have the main course. There’s still a lot of mental engagement and he enjoys the routines of his day, whether it’s eating, having play time on the floor with me, or going outside, tethered with Miss Lexie to enjoy the fresh air. One thing I’ve noticed that he no longer does is ‘sing’ along to his favourite Jukebox Oldies; Connie Francis was a regular singing partner. At least I have a few recordings of him belting out the tunes.

Many of the same habits apply to geriatric men and women who may be finding it difficult to eat; using utensils to cut up food is exhausting so it may be time for family members or other givers of care to present meals with cutting already done, and condiments at hand, so that all the older person has to do is enjoy the meal. As well, adaptive dinnerware and cutlery significantly enhances the eating experience, allowing the diner to eat without having to fight to keep food on the plate, fork or spoon. Interestingly, red dinnerware has been demonstrated to stimulate eating. Red, is after all, a power colour and my personal favourite.

In the absence of dietary restrictions, smoothie nutrition provides an immediate energy boost. Though I have the metabolism of 3 men and a boy and eat like a lumberjack, I still have a smoothie almost every day. The dogs enjoy a slosh of blended berries, banana and yogurt, too. For the senior or frail geriatric, proper nutrition also ensures better health overall with less likelihood of contracting a cold or becoming otherwise unwell.

Mr. Digby has issues with sleep and wakefulness and nocturnal ‘anxiety’; the disturbed sleep pattern is part of the canine cognitive disorder, not unlike Alzheimer’s in humans. He’s been on 5mg of melatonin each evening for the past few weeks and is doing very well. Though they’re berry flavoured quick dissolve tablets, he won’t take them in anything but yogurt. For my own good sleep, a sleep mask and room darkening blinds rule the night. We both sleep like babies, though one of us snores terribly. No, it’s not me!

And so, to honour old dogs and old broads with dogs, a contribution to your local animal shelter or rescue group wouldn’t go amiss. They’re always looking for volunteers, too. Dog walking is a great way to connect with the community. Leave cell phones at home and be fully present with your canine companion. It’s a dog’s life, after all.

Carla MacInnis Rockwell is a freelance writer and disability rights advocate living outside Fredericton, NB with her aging Australian silky terrier and a rambunctious Maltese. She can be reached via email at carmacrockwell@xplornet.ca

Micro-housing can break the cycle of homelessness

Micro-housing in Fredericton will be great news for so many people, most of all for those who are in need of safe, healthy housing. Why is it then that there’s always that ‘someone’ who, straight out of the gate makes a pronouncement that it will fail, that it will draw the wrong crowd and that people really don’t want to get off welfare? How do they know? Do they possess a crystal ball that allows them to predict outcomes of people they don’t know? Those attitudinal barriers must be broken down if people in need of a hand up are going to appreciate any sort of peace and harmony in the lives they’re trying to establish for themselves.

One online comment about the story, as it appeared in this paper, was both surprising and sad —  “good concept if the people are quiet and behave. My bet and common sense says the cops will be visiting there every day. And they have better things to do.”

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that it’s comments like these that serve only to diminish the positive/good aspects of initiatives that are geared to help those in need to better help themselves. 

Micro-houses by virtue of design are not meant to be permanent homes. They should be viewed as a stepping stone to permanent housing. That being so, the powers that be, the purse string holders, could make significant impact on the homelessness situation by rethinking the meaning of ‘family composition’ when it comes to adjusting monthly allotment of financial assistance. Why are unrelated persons in the same apartment, both receiving assistance, considered economic unit? Why can they not be viewed simply two people living under one roof who happen to be recipients of financial assistance, whether in the short- or long-term? In their unity is their emotional and physical survival, out of the reach of  homelessness. The system, thought to be unfeeling, sets the stage for the crash and burn as the financial bottom falls out of their world, when they’re essentially penalized for helping each other overcome or avert an emotional or physical crisis.

Landlords may be eligible for rental conversion programs which  provide financial assistance to owners/landlords to convert non-residential properties into affordable self-contained rental housing units and/or bed-units to be occupied by low income households. Yet another mechanism that contributes to breaking the cycle of homelessness. 

Many of us take housing for granted — a place to call our own, whether we rent it or own it, is often seen as a measure of a life on track; that we’re doing well since we have a roof over our heads.  Under the roof and behind the doors, are different stories of people and their challenges.  Lots of adults in Fredericton and around the country have never had a place of their own — circumstances of life tripped them up and they fell down. Some got back up but still struggle. So many others never got back up again. Some are living out years and decades behind bars because the challenges of life didn’t quite fit with their abilities to cope in societally acceptable ways. 

We are governed by laws — checks and balances. Initatives such as micro-housing, which is very much needed, contribute to creating a balance.

Melanie Laviolette and Emily Tingley, nursing students at UNB, addressed the issue of homelessness and its impact on health and wellness, reporting that people they see at clinic have issues that could be resolved were they to have a roof over their head; a shelter in the short term, but a place to call home in the long term is the ideal. It should be a goal that the powers that  that be more fully expand, particularly as a physical address is a requirement to access government financial supports.

The Out-of-the-Cold Shelter and other such housing accommodations provide a valuable service to the disenfranchised and every effort should be made to keep them open for the support of people in crisis. As those being helped get a solid footing in a new and healthier life, a fresh start, they invariably see it as their obligation to help others along that same path. The reality is, though, that mental health issues compromise success; for that reason it’s imperative that we  open minds and resist the urge to paint all with the same brush. 

Those of us who’ve never had to struggle day to day and who have always had enough of the necessities of life actually insult those who don’t by suggesting that they will abuse the system - that they don’t need to be homeless at all, that they abuse the shelters and that they don’t deserve subsidized housing such as the micro-housing schemes would provide.

To them I say - open your eyes. In a single moment, you could be where ‘they’ are.

Carla MacInnis Rockwell is a freelance writer and disability rights advocate living outside Fredericton, NB with her aging Australian silky terrier and a rambunctious Maltese. She can be reached via email at carmacrockwell@xplornet.ca

We need a better culture of asking for help

Photo: Gavin Young, PostMedia Network

“Who has a harder fight than he who is striving to overcome himself?” asked Thomas a Kempis, a copyist and writer who lived a monastic life in the 1400s.

Overcoming ourselves. What does that mean, exactly? In some lives, it may mean overcoming a toxic upbringing with parents who, for whatever reasons, were never able to meet your needs. In spite of that you decided that somewhere deep inside you was the stuff you needed to rise above the madness and confusion of that early start. You did it!

I came into this world as a person with disability and I will leave it the same way. Persons with challenges to daily living strive every waking moment to overcome that ‘thing’ which makes life exhausting. Parents of children with challenges go through every day wondering if they’re doing enough, striving to overcome their own fears about whether they’re doing it right. They and we are striving to overcome ourselves. We can create a better version of ourselves with hard work and a stick-to-itivness while being open to allowing others into our world. Everybody needs a little help sometimes. My age and changing abilities make asking for help essential to continued independent living.

Our province has many opportunities within the ranks of the 50-80 year old set to accomplish great things. Think about the vast resources of knowledge that could be tapped to benefit youngsters just starting out, particularly those about to enter the world of academia with their first day of school. It’s time for developing more inter-generational programs and services and ensuring they are sustained.

At the same time as our aging population is, well, aging, they could be enlisted to share their stores of experience, particularly with regard to their worklife and what attributes they see as critical to success. For me, reading and writing come to mind. While our aging population involves itself in providing service through volunteering their time and energies to youngsters and the community at large, the powers that be have a duty to support them in their healthy and safe aging. Aging in place, though the ideal, poses inherent challenges and is becoming more of a struggle for those who have had to let go of doing even the most routine of daily tasks. Things pile up, even important home maintenance requirements fall by the wayside. All some among us need is a hand up; it’s not always about a hand-out of the monetary kind, though that does help. 

Make no mistake about that — a hand out, an extended hand to help a neighbour who needs it is not just a nice thing to do, it’s a necessary thing to do. Necessary, given that in our own daily lives, we have family and friends who are aging in place but we can’t always meet their needs because we live in another province, perhaps, in another country. We help when and where we can and hope our old neighbours are picking up the slack, doing for our families what we cannot do. We’re doing it for someone else in that new place we call home.

The unfortunate nature of the beast is that the cost of living is so wrapped up in dollars and cents. What about the physical and emotional costs of living? Seniors still living in their own home are often overlooked when it comes to goods and services and taking a look at what they need to stay healthy, well and safe. Often, they’re overlooked because so many seniors don’t ‘sign up’ for services, fully convinced they can do it all on their own. Until the great fall!

In the broader sense, it costs far less for the overseers of programs subsidized by government funding to  be proactive in advance of full-time need of service. In expanding in-home services that are affordable, seniors would be better equipped to overcome themselves and their age-related deficiencies without feeling that they’re useless and totally helpless; self-defeating talk only makes the situations worse. As a consequence, the likelihood of extended period of independent living is made possible and care plans that include leaving the home and hearth of decades can be put on the back burner. 

Long nursing home wait lists and hospitals congested with waiting patients have been plaguing systems of care for years. What if the very space that will work is right under the roof of the person in need of extended care? Imagine that! Government entities responsible for overseeing budgets and placements can overcome themselves by more clearly seeing what’s right in front of them. and those seeking assistance can contribute to ovecoming their own worst impulses by asking for help. You don’t get if you don’t ask.

Carla MacInnis Rockwell is a freelance writer and disability rights advocate living outside Fredericton, NB with her aging Australian silky terrier and rambunctious Maltese. She can be reached via email at carmacrockwell@xplornet.ca 

Childhood poverty significantly limits potentials and opportunities

Childhood poverty compromises every aspect of the lives of those so affected, as they try to make their way in the world that is very often unforgiving of those who don’t fit the pre-cast mold set up by the ever-elusive ‘they’.  In essence, there’s a failure to thrive.

The label ‘failure to thrive’ was assigned to me when I was an infant. In my late 20s, I learned that it was still applied, as part of my ‘medical condition’; being undeweight, often a function of cerebral palsy and galloping metabolism that sucks up calories faster than I can take them in. 

As to children in poverty, failure to thrive is often impacted by spotty nutrition, with children and families relying on food banks and the like to top up requirements each month when funds get low. Failure to thrive is evidenced in school performance; a hungry child cannot concentrate. A child worried about being laughed at because he’s wearing jeans that are dirty and too short cannot effectively learn. He’s a victim of circumstances out of his control. 

Lessons in empathy need to be part of the daily curriculum so that those children who don’t experience such struggles are made aware of the needs of schoolmates who work and play around them. Across the ages, civility is waning and we need to pull it out of the gutter, dust it off and build lessons around it. Where better than in the classroom, at the beginning of the journey of formal education?

A dilemma for those who want to help is how do we help and who do we help? We tend to  take a broad brush to the issue of poverty, putting Group A over here and Group B over there.  We decide, without benefit of facts or family history, who is deserving of our largesse and who may be less so. Hmm. Here’s the thing — people are people. We all cry. We all laugh. We all live. We all die.

Children living in poverty are at risk on so many levels aside from what the mainstream sees as the obvious - food insecurity, inadequate housing and lapses in effective parenting from adults in their world. Lapses in parenting may well contribute to school absenteeism.

Being forced to live on the fringes during their formative years, during their school years, from K to 12, impacts a child in ways that may leave lifelong scars. That’s the reality of their world but there are so many among us who can help change outcomes by getting involved in our community with attention given to those who need us most. Call your local elementary school and offer to be a reading buddy. Your contribution will help boost literacy scores. Boosting literacy helps take a bite out of poverty. Think about that.

In today’s world, yesterday’s curriculum isn’t doing the job; we need to provide students with a more ‘in the world’ hands-on approach to learning. Certainly, sitting down and listening to instructors impart their knowledge about particular subjects needs to be part of the process but it could be expanded to incorporate exposure to  material beyond the pages of a book, or the information on a chalk board. Is it boredom that’s keeping children out of school? Layered learning might be the solution. Learning that’s designed with input from the students. Learning that is more inclusive of the broader community; inviting them in to teach. To learn themselves.

Young people living in poverty who are of working age, often miss school so they may earn money via part-time jobs to top up the family pot of funds required to just get by. Many families come to depend on their teenagers’ part time jobs to put extra food in the cupboards and cover costs of school supplies or special ‘school recommended’ sneakers or jackets.  Some families simply cannot afford any extras. Most may not even have a savings account that has sufficient funds to cover an unexpected emergency. That’s the reality of poverty for so many.

Making the school curriculum more relevant from the outset, beginning in 1st grade, may well be the best way to ensure a continuity of attendance. Engaging students in activities physically, intellectually and emotionally will ensure the creation of long-term memories with a skill set that will ensure that they are able to get off the poverty wheel going nowhere and establish themselves in careers they love with jobs that will be fulfilling with opportunities for advancement.

Childhood poverty is real. It is a problem. It can be made less so with greater and sustained involvement of those in the community who have the time and resources to make a difference. Could you be such a person?

Carla MacInnis Rockwell is a freelance writer and disability rights advocate living outside Fredericton, NB with her aging Australian silky terrier and a rambunctious Maltese. She can be reached via email at carmacrockwell@xplornet.ca