Are we protecting our children too much?

Personally, I'd say yes, unequivocally yes.

I was 13 before my parents let me go to the park without an adult, I lived NEXT TO the park.
When I spent weekends with my nan however, I'd go out with my friends from the age of about 10/11 and we spent months building ourselves a brilliant den. It was in the trees and on a really steep, dusty slope so we all kept slipping and got scratched to pieces from the brambles. It was this that led to me and my 13 year old friend having the idea of digging out a flat path so we wouldn't slide down, so off we hopped, climbed out of the den, onto the garages and then jumped off the garage roof, ran to get a spade and a broom then clambered back and made the path.The act of getting injured, helped us to develop problem solving skills so we could prevent ourselves getting hurt later on.

I've noticed a similar "nanny state" while helping out at cubs, every week we have a couple of parents help on a rotation basis. This week we went for a walk and there was one helper and one leader in charge of each 6 (I was in charge of blue six with a parent helper), I noticed however, that that helper I was with kept straying from the six to go and check on her son, she was a CLASSIC example of a helicopter parent, and was technically leaving a child in charge of 6 other children, completely disregarding their safety and having no trust in the leaders in charge of her son's six.
The boy in question happens to be mildly autistic, however, I was completely unaware of this until this week because it is impossible to tell at meetings without his mother tailing him, it was not until this week that he displayed social withdrawal from the rest of the group, and I fully believe that this was because his mother was holding him back, she was causing a problem rather than preventing one, which she was obviously trying to do. This boy is fascinated by fire, as became apparent when we had a campfire later in the evening, but he observed the line drawn on the ground that cubs were not allowed to cross and sat contently on his log, that is until his mother came along and started telling him to stand further back because he could get hurt, this poor boy could not understand why he had to stand further back than everyone else, it wasn't fair and he thought his mother was punishing him for something. If his mother had not been there, there would have been no problems and everyone would have gone home happy, but instead this boy went home upset because his mother hadn't allowed him to toast his own marshmallow, because she did not trust that he understood when his hand was too hot.

This is NOT what scouting is about - clingy

This is - Independence

Another issue is all these adverts for "antibacterial products" that kill 99.9% of all bacteria - surely this will just result in useless immunity and therefore, in later life, death could result from something as simple as the common cold because the immune system just can't produce antibodies to fight infection because it's never been exposed to infection before, in essence, trying to protect children from getting ill could lead to premature death, and it would be the fault of the parents.
This is pretty basic biology, so why are we falling for the claims that we will be healthier if we use antibacterial soap, we're quite clearly going to be exceptionally UNhealthy.

"Fight germs, Stay healthy" Really...?!

"A baby must be exposed to germs during its first year in order to develop the antibodies needed to fight infection later in life" - Dr. Levy, who has long been active with the Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics (APUA), spoke of an Italian study that found that exposure to bacteria is essential for development of an infant’s immune system. (http://www.naturalchildmagazine.com/news/case_against_antibacterial_soap.htm)


And here's and excellent post about knives and scouting: http://www.100yearknives.com/scout-knives/kids-love-knives/

Biology Unit 1 - Topic 1 - Causes of disease

BIOLOGY UNIT 1

1.Causes of Disease

1.1_Pathogens

• Pathogens are microorganisms.

WHAT IS DISEASE?

• Disease is a description of certain symptoms, not a single ‘thing’.
• Could be physical, mental, or both.
• Disease suggests malfunction in the body or mind resulting in adverse effect on health.

MICROORGANISMS AS PATHOGENS

 To be a pathogen, a microoganism must:

• Gain entry to host
• Colonise tissues of host
• Resist defences of host
• Cause damage to host tissues

• Pathogens include bacteria, viruses and fungi.
• If a pathogen colonises a hosts tissues, infection is the result.
• Disease occurs when infection leads to recognisable symptoms in host.
• When a pathogen is transferred from one individual to another, this is called transmission.

HOW DO MICROORGANISMS GET INTO THE BODY?

·        Pathogens get into the body by penetrating one of the organisms interfaces with environment.

·        One interface is the skin when it is broken. (When unbroken the skin is a thick, continuous layer so is an effective barrier to infection.)

·        Some interfaces have evolved to allow exchange of material so linings here are thin, moist, have a large surface area and are well supplied with blood vessels. This makes for easy entry for molecules, including pathogens.

·        Examples include the gas exchange system – Many pathogens enter here, including ones that cause influenza, TB and bronchitis.

Digestive system – Food and water can carry pathogens into stomach and intestines via mouth, pathogens such as cholera, typhoid and dysentery enter here.

·        To try and prevent entry, body has natural defences:

-Mucus layer covers exchange surfaces and forms thick sticky barrier that’s difficult to penetrate.

-Enzymes break down pathogens.

-Stomach acid kills microorganisms.

HOW DO PATHOGENS CAUSE DISEASE?

Two main ways:

·        Damaging host tissues – sometimes just the number of them by preventing tissues functioning properly. Viruses inhibit synthesis of DNA, RNA and proteins. Many pathogens break down membranes of host cells.

·        Producing toxins – Most bacterial pathogens. Cholera bacterium produces toxin that leads to excessive water loss from lining of intestines.

·        Some diseases like malaria have just one cause, while others like heart disease have a number of causes.

·        How quickly a pathogen causes damage is related to how quickly it divides.

·        Pathogens like those causing gastroenteritis, deivide every 30mins so symptoms become apparent within 24 hours. Gastroenteritis pathogen only causes damage in large numbers.

·        Pathogens such as typhoid bacterium cause harm in small numbers.

1.2_Data and Disease

ANALYSING AND INTERPRETING DATA ON DISEASE

• Epidemiology is the study of the incidence and pattern of disease with a view to finding means of preventing and controlling it.
• Epidemiologists collect data and look for a pattern or relationship between the diseases and various factors in lives of people who have them.

CORRELATIONS AND CAUSAL RELATIONSHIPS

CORRELATIONS DO NOT MEAN CAUSATIONS!!!!!

• A correlation occurs when a change in one variable is reflected by a change in the other.
• This does not however mean that we can say that one change CAUSES the other.

1.3_Lifestyle and health

WHAT IS RISK?

A MEASURE OF THE PROBABILITY THAT DAMAGE TO HEALTH WILL OCCUR AS A RESULT OF A GIVEN HAZARD.

Concept of risk has 2 elements:

-Probability that hazardous event will occur.

-Consequences of that hazardous event.

• These factors affect how we perceive risk, e.g. risk of catching a cold is high, but consequences are minor so we don’t tend to worry much.
• Consequences of being struck by lightening are severe, but unlikely to happen so again, we don’t worry too much.
• When both factors are high = worry.

Risk is measured in %.

Health risks need timescale – telling someone risk of dying is 100% is meaningless, saying their risk of dying in the next month is 100%, has a totally different meaning.

Risk is often relative – Risk is measured by comparing likelihood of harm occurring in those exposed to a hazard with those not exposed to it. i.e. Smokers are 15x more likely to develop lung cancer.

Misleading statistics – reports in media may be misleading as they focus on a single figure, suggesting this figure applies to everyone.

LIFESTYLE CHOICES AND CANCER

Can’t do anything about our genes, or age, but lifestyle can expose us to environmental and carcinogenic factors.

*Smoking – nicotine is a carcinogen, and can affect passive smokers too.

*Diet – What we eat & drink affects risk of contracting cancer.

*Obesity – Being overweight increases risk.

*Physical activity – People who take regular excersise have lower risk from some cancers than those who do not exercise.

*Sunlight – Great exposure to UV rays increase risk of developing skin cancer.

RISK FACTORS AND CORONARY HEART DISEASE

·        CHD is largest cause of death in UK.

·        When combined, 4/5 of the risk factors produce a disproportionately greater risk.

LIFESTYLE CHOICES AND CHD

Can’t control genes age or sex.

But can control:

·        Smoking – Smokers between 2 and 6 times more likely to suffer from CHD.

·        High Blood Pressure – Excessive prolonged stress, certain diets and lack of exercise increase blood pressure and hence risk of CHD.

·        Blood cholesterol levels – Can be kept lower by includning fewer saturated fats and fatty acids in diet.

·        Obesity - BMI of over 25 = increased risk.

·        Diet – High levels of salt raise blood pressure while high levels of saturated fatty acids increase blood cholesterol concentration.

·        Physical exercise – Aerobic exercise can lower blood pressure and blood cholesterol as well as helping to avoid obesity.

Infection- invasion and multiplication of microorganisms in body tissues

Disease-  A disorder of structure or function in a human, animal, or plant, that produces specific signs or symptoms

Transmission- The transfer of a pathogen from one individual to another.

Interface- A point where two systems, subjects, organizations, etc., meet and interact.

RNA- ribonucleic acid; any of a group of nucleic acids, present in all living cells, that play an essential role in the synthesis of proteins.