As the blog rules say, when you first start a blog you should pick an audience type and have a subject or topic for your blog – and then stick to it. When I started Unearthing the Spud, I did none of these. I was curious about blogging but didn’t have any direction, I just wanted to start and discover what I wanted to write about as I went along. There was no purpose to it. I didn’t care if not one person read it. I just wrote about things as they popped up – current events, things in my life or my community, my opinions and so on. I really didn’t have any rules for my blog! I even changed my blog layout quite a few times for fun….which is supposedly a big no-no in the blog world. Oops! That is the beauty about it being your blog – do what you want and people can choose to read it or not.
Over my blogging time, I have found my niche for what I really got a kick out of writing about. I started to want to write more and more about food. As I discovered more about health, I wanted to share what I was learning too.
For this reason, Unearthing the Spud has been morphed into Farmer K’s Kitchen. Here is where I write about what I cook. Go over and check it out, and if you like it – please follow along! I even have a facebook page.
Bush Tucker Breaky
Choco Coco Nut Cookies
Banana & Blueberries Pancakes
My blog is about nutritious recipes that taste awesome, and sometimes you will see health info pop up on there too (like eating bee pollen and charcoal), some of my farm stories, a little bit about my life, and a touch about food origins.
I would like to say thank you to those people out there who have subscribed to Unearthing the Spud and I hope to see you over at Farmer K’s Kitchen soon.
Continuing on from my last post (Part 1: What is Gluten Exactly?), we are going to jump straight into how to be diagnosed with a gluten intolerance, sensitivity or Celiac Disease….or not.
Part 2: Gluten Diagnosis or Not!
So I left you all with a wonderful thought last post – did you know that only 1% (yes, I did correctly type the measly number of only 1%) of people with celiac disease are properly diagnosed…..1 percent…
Yep, true stuff! The majority of people who can’t eat gluten will go for a test and the result will be negative BUT it should have been positive! They actually are sensitive to gluten or they have Celiac Disease, but the results will say no.
There are so many factors that cause this misdiagnosis:
Testing the wrong markers/areas of the gluten sensitivity
Not having any gluten present in your system at the time of testing, so it all looks ‘fine’
It is important to note however, that positive results are usually almost always dependable. Negative results are not. No single test has been universally accepted as the standard for diagnosing celiac disease. (AAFP)
Thankfully, things are looking up for the testing of gluten sensitivity in the medical world. Cyrex Labs (www.cryrexlabs.com) is starting to get high success rates since January 2011. They do their testing through salivary panels covering all areas of gluten. They also make available a test that can pinpoint the very areas of your body that are being most affected by gluten. To get your hands on these tests, you must go through a licensed medical care provider.
I have been asked many times if I am going to get tested for Celiac Disease, and honestly I personally don’t see the point.
If there is a high chance of the result being a misdiagnosis, why don’t I just skip all the drama and just cut gluten out of my diet anyway? After all, we know for a fact that gluten is bad for everyone. If there were more reliable tests available (Cyrex Labs is leading the way!) and through this I discovered that I didn’t have gluten intolerances, I would still cut it out of my diet.
As I said in Part 1 of this gluten series, most people have ‘Silent Celiac Disease’, which means they do not have any noticeable symptoms at all so they have absolutely no idea. Do you have any symptoms? This is pretty scary seeing as gluten can do so much damage to your body (as we covered in Part 1)!
My naturopath, my doctor and a health expert have all said that no one should eat gluten anyway. Even those who do not have any noticeable symptoms. I think immediately of my husband who eats mainly gluten-free with me, but will still have the odd hamburger or cake. He seems to handle gluten fine (unless he has ‘Silent Celiac Disease’!) but inside his body is working mighty hard to process it. Everyone’s body has to work extra hard to accommodate gluten.
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From Nora’s book: Primal Body, Primal Mind: People often think that the symptoms to watch for when it comes to gluten issues are typically gastrointestinal, when gluten sensitivity can, in fact, profoundly impact your brain, nervous system, emotional states, endocrine functioning, neurotransmitters, immune system, bones, joints, skeletal system, and any possible aspect of your mental or physical physiological functioning.
So basically, no one should be eating gluten. Full stop.
The next post, Part 3, will be all about ‘Cross-Reactivity of Foods’. I have had first hand experience with this one! In this we will also look at the relationship between gluten and coffee.
I have been reading a fantastic book called ‘Primal Body, Primal Mind’ by Nora Gedgaudas (I will leave that pronunciation up to you!).
It is about gaining optimal health by eating well and avoiding the so-called ‘food’ that our food companies have created for us. Food that isn’t really food anymore. We don’t know how it was made, what is in it or the damage it is doing to our bodies (even though the food companies know the mountains of facts proving their ‘food’ is causing us major health problems). Don’t get me started – it makes me mad.
So, our option is to take back the control and go back to the basics…eat primal!
When I started going gluten-free I was overwhelmed with all the information out there. The many do’s and don’ts, which can sometimes be conflicting – do eat rice, don’t eat rice – do eat buckwheat, don’t eat buckwheat….it was doing my head in!
After tons of reading, loads of questions and through my own experiences I decided to share what I have learned. I am by no means a doctor or health advisor – I am just sharing my learnings with you. Nora’s book has really helped me to clear my understandings of gluten and it is actually not all that complicated. More and more friends are asking me how to go gluten-free and what it involves – hopefully this helps!
I am going to have to break this information up into parts as there is quite a bit and I don’t want to miss out on any important details. This post will be Part 1 where I will go into what gluten actually is. Then the following posts will go into diagnosis, healing, cross-reactivity with other foods (you will hear doctors say “don’t eat gluten…OR dairy”) and anything else that I can think of to share.
Stay tuned and please comment with your thoughts or gluten stories.
Image Credit
Part 1: What is Gluten Exactly?
Firstly, the word Gluten is derived from the Latin word glue. This in itself should not sit right with you. Gluten was actually used to stick wallpaper onto walls! It is the stuff that makes food stick together, be soft and fluffy, and sometimes cause us to be addicted to the stuff.
Gluten has absolutely no benefit to our bodies. There is nothing in gluten that we need. No nutrients, vitamins or minerals we require from gluten. If we eliminate it from our diet, there is nothing we miss out on.
Some people get very confused between Celiac Disease and gluten intolerance or sensitivity. We tend to think that one is worse than the other but this is not true. To quote from Nora’s book, ‘All celiac disease is a form of gluten sensitivity but not all gluten sensitivity is celiac disease.’ They just have different genetic markers. They are both equal in danger to our health.
some oats (although I would steer clear of this supposedly “gluten-free” food as gluten is typically present from the modern methods they use to process oats, which contaminates it with gluten)
cornstarch
Although other grains such as corn, millet, quinoa, rice, buckwheat and soy do not technically contain gluten, gluten contamination in many of these foods are extremely common. I do eat quinoa…but only very small amounts, and I tune into my body to see if I react (which I do…very badly with gluten).
Gluten is everywhere 😦 , and unless a product is clearly labelled ‘GLUTEN-FREE’, I wouldn’t eat it. Gluten can be labelled as other things such as food emulsifiers, artificial food colouring, vegetable (or hydrolysed) protein, modified food starch, dextrin…and so on. So you really have to read your labels if they don’t clearly state ‘Gluten Free’.
So what damage does it do to our bodies? Gluten flattens the very important villi which is the lining of your small intestine (it looks like shag carpet). This villi is responsible for absorbing all your nutrients and so on. Gluten will actually turn this healthy, shag carpet villi into a completely destroyed flat zone where you are unable to absorb the “good stuff” from your foods.
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If you are not absorbing the things your body absolutely needs for you to survive, you fall into many health problems. Gluten definitely does not just affect the digestive system. ‘Gluten sensitivity can be primarily and at times exclusively a neurological disease, affecting not only the brain and nervous system directly, but also cognitive and psychiatric illness.’ (Hadjivassiliou)It affects the brain – when you consume gluten, it shuts off the blood flow to the frontal and prefrontal cortex which is responsible for short-term memory, focus, managing of emotions, planning and organisational skills.
Eating gluten has proven to cause ADD/ADHD, depression, heart problems, chronic inflammatory conditions, immune system, diabetes, musculoskeletal system, nervous system, moods, eczema, joint pain, and kidney issues. Gluten is the root cause of many health issues (and deaths).
‘Celiac Disease is one of the most common lifelong disorders in both Europe and the US.’ (A. Fasano)
In Nora’s book, she shares that The New England Journal of Medicinediscovered that 55 diseases are KNOWN to be caused by gluten. Among these are heart disease, cancer, nearly all autoimmune diseases, osteoporosis, irritable bowel syndrome, gall bladder disease, Hashimoto’s disease (an autoimmune thyroid disorder), epilepsy, migraines, Parkinson’s disease, lateral sclerosis, autism (which is technically an autoimmune brain disorder), anxiety issues, bipolar disorder, dementia, and schizophrenia.
I hate to be a downer, but gluten can kill you.
Hmmm…another piece of pizza?
My next post will be all about ‘Diagnosis’ (or lack of!), but be warned….did you know that only 1% (yes, I did correctly type the measly number of only 1%) of people with celiac disease are properly diagnosed…..1 percent…
I was spending an awful lot of time flicking through my favourite food blogs when my eye balls stopped on the ingredients “bee pollen”. I thought to myself, could this be? Actual bee pollen collected from a flower and found on a tiny bee’s legs? I had to try this stuff!
Bee pollen is different from the pollen that is airborne which causes allergic reactions. We all know how good raw honey is for you and the honey you buy from the shops is not raw, but boiled and broken down…which is a shame. We always have to stuff around with perfect nature don’t we! Pretty much any thing that bees touch turns to gold, including the pollen from flowers!
I found some bee pollen in the far back corner of a small health food shop and I was feeling very pleased with myself. Such an exotic sounding ingredient I had my hands on, but when I went to the checkout the man told me that this had become very popular at the moment and loads of people had been buying it. Maybe not so mysterious and exotic – but it still was to me. Maybe it was something like that Goji Berry craze a year or so back when they first hit the shelves (I love goji berries!). Everyone started to hear about this superfood with all its antioxidant-goodness.
Here is a photo of the bee pollen I bought.
The different colours are from the various flower types the bees have visited. They take this pollen back to their hives and the pollen is harmlessly brushed off as the bees crawl into the hive. The honeybee collects only the purest of pollens. It avoids all toxic plants, including those contaminated with pesticides. The pollen isn’t as effective if it is taken straight from the flower. You need bee spit to bind it and activate it. Yum.
It tastes like powdery, flowery, honey goodness. I like it. I put it on my yogurt, or fruit, or blend it up in my juice. You only need a teaspoon or two a day.
Of course there is a healthy side to bee pollen as it is purely natural and taken from things that grow in soil, like all other things healthy. Here are some facts about bee pollen:
one of the richest and purest natural foods ever discovered
used as an immune system builder
it is very high in protein, containing between 20-35%, including all 22 amino acids.
it supplies human bodies with nearly every single nutrient we need to survive.
contains the richest known source of vitamins, minerals, proteins amino acids, hormones, enzymes and fats, as well as significant quantities of natural antibiotics. Most of the known vitamins in pollen exist in perfect proportion, which further enhances their value
jam-packed with vitamins, minerals, trace minerals, and phytonutrients.
regulates the action of the intestinal functions, it self-digests and aids the digestion of other foods
balances the blood, lymph, and aqueous and general metabolism system.
contains active antibiotic substances, which destroy bacteria on contact.
useful in cases of stress and nervous endocrine system disorders due to its high content of natural B Vitamins.
increases energy and mental alertness and is believed to slow down the ageing process.
this one convenient source is a storehouse of vitamins, minerals, proteins, fats and oils, carbohydrates, amino acids, over 5,000 enzymes and coenzymes, hormones, peptones, polypeptides and globulins, high concentrations of the nucleic acids RNA and DNA, and a variety of antibiotic substances.
You should always store your bee pollen out of direct sunlight. The best place for it is in the freezer and here it will keep it strength for up to 2 years.
The list of benefits could go on and on. Here is some more interesting, thorough and scientific information about bee pollen if you are keen to keep reading 🙂
So I have had my herb garden for a few months now and ready to reassess and replant a few bits and pieces in a couple of weeks. A lot of it will keep producing and will not be touched. I have learnt so much in a short space of time – from pretty much zilch to a few handy tips in owning a herb garden.
Trial and Error Tips –
Flatleaf Parsley – pick regularly otherwise it will grow too big and the leaves will thin out. Don’t be afraid to eliminate your parsley for cooking reasons (oops)….it will grow back, thank goodness. Coriander – grew really fast for me. Use scissors to harvest and cut at the stems. It grows even quicker in part-shade and gets a nice dark green colour about it.
Rosemary – regularly has to have the chop otherwise it rebels and goes a little haywire. I think I need to get some cuttings to give away for friends who want to grow some. Any takers?
Spring Onion – if you throw leftover spring onion down the back at your fence as ‘compost’, it will grow and you will be sad that it is in the wrong place, but stoked that you have an awesome supply of spring onions for dips that you didn’t even have to plant or care for. I am careful where I throw my old tomatoes now….
YouTube – not a herb, but a very handy tool in working out when and how to harvest your herbs. I enjoy reading books, but I learn much better when it is visual so watching YouTube clips with people actually doing the pruning, planting, and picking really helped me learn.
Next Time –
First of all, I know what I use most and what I definitely need more of! Next round there will be no lettuce (it was a little fickle with where I have my herb garden planted…too much sunshine), but I will try again with the baby spinach (it went a little bitter…), more basil, more flat-leaf parsley for cooking (the curly parsley is great for salads so I have a mix of both), and more shallots (which I kept using before it got to its full potential).
Who knew there were so many types of rosemary? I have no idea which type I planted and they all have slightly differing flavours and growing habits, so next time I will take note of what I have. I also need a little planting calendar to make a mark of when and what I planted. I didn’t bother working out what seasons to plant what, I just did it cause that is the way I roll.
Next time, I will never ever leave my strawberries unattended when the chooks are on the prowl. I learnt this the hard way with my first harvest. Just a few survived to continue growing after the massacre.
Tomorrow morning I am leading our staff devotions where I get to share something that means a lot to me. I had already prepared something before the weekend, but after watching a documentary last night I decided to base my devotion on that.
Here it is – – – –
My devotion is on something that will not make you happy. In actual fact you will probably leave here this morning furious, disappointed and so angry your blood will boil – this is a GOOD thing. This may be an uncomfortable devotion for you and very upsetting and you may not want to know cause it is too distressing, but I think everyone should know about it. We need to open our eyes to what is happening in our time – after all we are required, under God’s instruction, to be responsible.
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” Genesis 1:26
The word dominion means authorization, management, privilege, property, reign, rule, sovereignty, territory
In other words, we are responsible and held accountable by God in the way we rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens and the livestock and all things. Accountable to God.
I am not a greenie…I think, I am not a vegetarian and I don’t have a problem with those who are. God does allow us to benefit from the animals. Bible principles allow us to kill animals to provide food and clothing or to protect ourselves from harm. (Genesis 3:21; 9:3; Exodus 21:28) However, life is sacred to God. Our dominion over the animals must be exercised in a balanced way that shows respect for life. The Bible speaks negatively of a man named Nimrod, who apparently killed animals and perhaps humans for the sheer thrill of it.—Genesis 10 . Jesus spoke of God’s concern for animals in these words: “Five sparrows sell for two coins of small value, do they not? Yet not one of them goes forgotten before God.” (Luke 12:6) Obviously, God does not regard animals as just disposable items, to be thrown away at will.
When giving the Israelites laws, God taught them proper care of animals. He required them to return a stray animal to its owner and to help animals in distress. (Exodus 23:4, 5) Animals were to benefit from a Sabbath rest, just like humans. (Exodus 23:12) There were laws governing the proper treatment of farm animals. (Deuteronomy 22:10; 25:4) Obviously, animals were to be cared for and guarded, not exploited. Proverbs 12:10 explicitly states God’s viewpoint: “The righteous one is caring for the soul of his domestic animal, but the mercies of the wicked ones are cruel.”
True, God’s original purpose was that man have “ dominion over the fish of the sea and the flying creatures of the heavens and every living creature that is moving upon the earth.” (Genesis 1:28) Cruelty to animals has no place in that purpose.
God created many intelligent and unique animals at the beginning of time, and one of those that have fascinated many are dolphins. We have all heard the recounts of surfers being saved by dolphins during an impending shark attack. There was one guy who said he was with a mate out surfing when his friends face went completely white. There was a Tiger shark targeting them as it came towards them – 2 metres off, a dolphin appeared and intersected the shark making the shark hit the side of the dolphin. The dolphin kept at it until the shark went away. There are so many accounts of these kinds of things happening in the surf.
People have said that when they have been sucked out in a rip, or in a boat wreck, dolphins have come to the rescue. There have also been many stories of dolphins healing many people who can’t walk and so on it goes. Dolphins seem to understand….and trust humans.
Dolphins have super-sonic hearing which they use to communicate with one another. Their ears are 7 times more sensitive to sound than human ears. They are an extremely social animal that stick together at all times – a pod of dolphins. Using their sound, they know about our bones, organs or even if you are pregnant. They can actually see through us. They are extremely sensitive to sound. It has been proven that dolphins can comprehend things and understand complex language patterns, which is incredible for any animal. They are classed as the most intelligent animal on the planet and they can live up to 50 years of age!
On Sunday night, Kirk and I watched a documentary called ‘The Cove’. Did anyone else watch it? It is about a team of people who undertook a secret mission to expose what is happening in Japan with dolphin slaughter.
the team.
This team are serious, with night vision goggles and video cameras hidden as fake rocks, and sound recording devices to go in the water to hear what the dolphins are saying. The team snuck into the cove at night in the pitch black and set up their gear ready to film the daily massacre of many, many wild dolphins. This mission was crucial in exposing the unknown killing of these animals.
Let me give you an overview of ‘The Cove’:
There is a little village in Japan called Taiji (map). Just off the coast there is a passage that dolphins swim through 6 months of the year. The dolphins have been passing by Taiji for hundreds of years.
Starting from the 1st September (tomorrow), Japanese “fishermen” will get into boats and wait for the first lot of dolphins to pass through.
The boats at Taiji, Japan.
The fishing boats have big steel rods off them that stick into the water, which they loudly bang using hammers. The noise from this creates a frightening soundwall for the dolphins and they try to flee the area by swimming as fast they can into the cove, away from the boats, but into a trap. Once the first hundred or so dolphins are in the cove they put up nets to trap them and then leave them there overnight. The next day, dolphin trainers from amusement parks, including Sea World in some countries and zoos come by and select which dolphins they would like to keep for themselves – the pretty ones usually. The others are taken around the corner to a secluded and top-secret cove that is sheltered from public eye with barbwire and fences, where they drive steel rods into the dolphins bodies to kill them all.
The cove at Taiji, Japan after a day of killing dolphins.
It is not a quick killing, but a slashing. The water looks just like red paint…..it doesn’t even look watered down. They kill the entire lot, including the little babies. In the documentary you can see the dolphins trying to jump out of the water onto the rocks while the others are being stabbed. It is a mass of panic and you can see the fishermen laughing as the dolphins are bashing their tales and bodies against the boats trying to get away. The fishermen then scuba dive for the dolphins bodies and collect those that tried to escape.
Taiji, Japan
They hook the bodies up into the small boats and then sell the dolphin meat, usually labelled as whale meat. People do not realise what they are eating. After this, they then get ready to do it all over again the next day.
dolphin meat
I am going to show you two videos. The first one was used to publicise what is happening in Taiji as hardly anyone knew until recently what was going on at the cove…even the townspeople. Of course, they have used celebrities to promote this one. There is one point in the footage where you see a baby dolphin that has been stabbed, fleeing around the hidden corner and out into the open, away from the massacre. Somehow it gets through the net and makes its way straight for a few people standing on the shore (the people on the shore can’t see what is happening to the other dolphins around the corner, but they do know as they are part of the team trying to save them. They are there scoping the place out and preparing to get in to film it for the world to see. The people are surrounded by Japanese ‘buffers’ whose jobs are to move people away from the area and cause as much hassle as possible so they would leave). You can see this baby dolphin struggling to swim and then it lifts itself up struggling to get its last few breaths and then it just disappears never to resurface. This footage was taken from The Cove documentary.
The second video I am going to show you is all taken from the documentary. You can see for yourself what is happening. It is very, very, very difficult to watch, but I think it is important to stick it out and watch, and for us to feel the injustice and angry that God must also be feeling for his animals – the ones we humans are supposed to be accountable for. These documentaries are made so we can be informed of what is happening, and then do something about it. I for one do not want to be naive about the situation.
Video One
Video Two
So, after we have seen all that, what can we do?
If you can stomach it, I really recommend watching the whole documentary, The Cove. It goes into all the logistics about the mercury poisoning, dolphins in captivity, the movie Flipper and more. It is very insightful.
There is a website called Save Japan Dolphins where you can sign a petition or send a letter. It goes straight to President Obama, the Vice President and the Japanese Ambassador to the US.
You can also make a donation so this brave team of people can continue their work in getting dolphin killing banned, buy a T-Shirt to wear and heighten the knowledge of what is happening to the dolphins, buy other merchandise, and most importantly of all – PRAY. Pray that these fishermen will have their conscience take over and they will clearly see what they are doing. Pray that the people who are fighting very hard to have this banned will be successful. Pray that God will show you away to keep his command for us to be responsible for the animals He has given us.
Since the movie, the Solomon Islands have signed an agreement to stop killing dolphins which they have done traditionally in the past, and no dolphins were killed at all in the Solomon Islands last year. The Solomon Islands were after Japan for the amount of dolphins they killed each year.
Signing the agreement with the Solomon Islands.
People are not visiting Sea Worlds around the world and places that promote capture of dolphins. People are making sure the meat they eat is not hidden dolphin or whale meat.
Here is a quote from the man who started the mission of the cove, Ric O’Barry – “Before The Cove came out, I was beating down the doors of media in Japan begging them to cover the story. After The Cove, they met me at the airport and followed us to almost every location. Our press conference was attended by over 100 media representatives, including every major broadcast outlet. We still have a lot of work to do, but the secret is now out!’
I have been hearing more and more about these babies lately. I am currently in the process of convincing hubby that I ‘need’ one, so if you could give me some reasons why I should get one then that would be most helpful 🙂
So far I have mainly been working my plea from this angle –
my students can use the iPad for their learning. There are so many amazing, PROPER educational apps out there. Not just the game apps. I have been attending a Master Class run by Tony Ryan these past few months and he has been blowing my mind with the ways you can successfully use technology like the iPad to enhance learning in your classroom. I love how he says, “the iPad can be either incredible for learning, or a disaster. Depends on how you use it”. Very true.
Here are some great apps for educators who have an iPad (which isn’t me…yet):
and many, many more I don’t have time to hyperlink right now….maybe another post down the track when I have one in my hot little hands!
Using your iPad in class
Check out this little boy who has just turned two years old! My oh my how the world is changing! Can you imagine how his little brain is developing compared to when we were this age?
Before I get commenters comparing playing outside to being inside on technology, I want to make it clear that I am a BIG believer in fresh air, making cubby houses and being outdoors! That was how I was brought up and I am pretty awesome 😉 But for those times when your kids are indoors – this iPad would be amazing! Just think about the types of jobs the children of today are going to have in the future. The skills they learn with technology are going to be extremely handy!
I came across the video you just watched of Bridger and his iPad from this website, LEARNBOOST. Here they have listed some benefits and drawbacks on 2-3yr olds using iPads:
Benefits
Physical development. Toddler-age and preschool-age children often struggle to develop the small muscles in their hands. They work with play-dough, scribble, snap/zip/tie doll clothes and shoelaces, count with their fingers, and put together puzzles to get their little hands ready for all that the world requires of their fine motor skills.
Pre-literacy skills. With games like PBS KIDS’s Super WHY! and interactive story books, children play with letter sounds, letter forms, rhymes, and words. These exercise a child’s phonemic awareness, which is one of the best predictors of reading and academic success in later life.
Cognitive development. Puzzles are super important in children’s spacial reasoning, problem-solving, understanding of cause and effect, numbering and ordering, and countless other cognitive skills. Shape Builder is one puzzle app that I’ve worked with, and though it’s not wildly complex, it does enable really young children to explore with shapes while fine tuning their physical and mental skills.
Social-emotional development. Animated games and prizes are immensely gratifying, which gives children (even those less than 2-years-old) a sense of success and accomplishment. Studies have linked these affirmations to more confidence and more intrinsic motivation down the road. Plus, if a child has siblings, parents are bound to step in and work on negotiation and sharing skills, even if just because iPads are expensive.
Drawbacks
Instant gratification. It’s a give or take on this one. Children’s attention spans are brief at young ages. The colors, awards, sounds, and movements on the iPad affirm a short attention span with instant gratification. On the other hand, tiny children can sit and focus on the same game for minutes and even hours on the iPad.
Near obsession. I nannied for a family with 3 children, ages 1 month, 21 months, and 3-years. The toddler’s first word was “iPad.” There was almost no motivation to play outside, imagine, paint, or get messy. The idea that this device could be so overwhelming as to limit a child’s desire and ability to pretend, is deeply unsettling. For more info on how dramatic play stimulates brain development, check out some scholarly articles on the subject.
The technological parent. Socio-economic indicators may negate this drawback, since affluent families are both more likely to raise children who succeed in school and are more likely to be able to afford iPads. There’s no doubt though that it’s really easy to let an iPad “babysit” a child. Unlike Bridger’s father, who coaxes him through the learning process, if a parent simply sets a young child up with a game without any scaffolding or personal engagement, we may see more negative repercussions.
I do think that some of those drawbacks are perhaps more parenting issues rather than iPad issues, mainly with the obsession one. Parents ideally should be balancing their child’s life with a mix of things – outdoors and technology (computers, TV, etc). Both have been proven to benefit their development! I have a friend who does this beautifully. She discovered this in a book – for every 30 minutes outside, her children can spend 15 minutes on computer/Play Station/etc. Very clever idea!
So other than the education point I am using with my husband so I can buy an iPad, what are some other reasons I need one? 😉
This post is all about what I do to inspire my kids to get their homework done and bring it in to school on time.
Homeworkopoly – which I found on Pinterest is the key to my sanity and has been very effective. I have only just introduced Homeworkopoly this term (Term 3 in Australia), when interest in homework was starting to wane and the students needed a bit of a pick up in their motivation.
The students need to bring their homework in on time and completed. Then they get to roll a dice and move their gorgeous laminated face around the board.
If they land on a Community Lunchbox space, they pick a card from here:
When they land on Chance, they choose from here:
The other places they can land on include:
Mystery Prize: Choose a prize from the special box where things such as notepads, smelly pens, rubbers, sharpeners, etc are kept.
Game Spot: Choose a quick max.15 min game that the class can play at some stage during the week e.g. bingo, buzz, etc.
Free Homework: Choose one item from the homework sheet that you would like to skip this week.
On the Bus: Do a job for the teacher to be able to move on e.g. wash paintbrushes or sweep, etc.
Brain Binder: using the teacher’s laptop, complete a brain teaser/puzzle online.
GO: When students pass ‘GO’ they can choose a sticker.
If there is a high chance of the result being a misdiagnosis, why don’t I just skip all the drama and just cut gluten out of my diet anyway? After all, we know for a fact that gluten is bad for everyone. If there were more reliable tests available (Cyrex Labs is leading the way!) and through this I discovered that I didn’t have gluten intolerances, I would still cut it out of my diet.
UNEARTHING THE SPUD 