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3 fears can be overdone tribune january 18 1989 c3 as the mother of two elemen tary school children my con- cerns are the same as those of any other parent safety hap piness and wellbeing are high on my list of priorities our children know they shouldnt ride with or accept gifts from strangers they know its better to go to school in pairs or groups and they know they must call home if they go to a friends house after school on the other hand we dont want them to think that every stranger who smiles and says hello is a closet maniac or that a hug from their favorite teacher or a friends mother should be treated with paranoid suspicion yet societys wellmeaning at tempts to protect them may be creating just such attitudes i recently attended a seminar on child abuse at stouffville dist secondary school presented by the york region abuse preven tion program the program aimed at the grade 9 students covered both kates corner kate gilderdale physical and mental child abuse a child being defined as so meone under 16 years of age much of the presentation was informative and useful covering everything from the trauma of a victims court appearance to in formation on selfdefence and ways to avoid abusive situations some elements of it however i found unduly alarmist and didac tic abuse is everywhere the students were told in york region in stouffville and among those attending the school widely differing figures were quoted for those under 21 who had suffered abuse ranging from one in 10 overall to one in two girls and one in three boys presumably the figures depended on the study and its definition of abuse unfortunate ly the definitions used in those studies were not outlined at the presentation skits covering everything from abusive behavior by teachers to date rape were per formed by grade 12 students in answer to one students question a social worker said that false ac cusations by young people were rare and were usually the result of other problems in the ac cusers life nothing was said about the devastating affects of a false ac cusation on an innocent adult yet in a recent case in england scores of parents were falsely ac cused of abuse and had their children removed from their care the result of overzealous attempts on the part of local of ficials to curb abuse i left the seminar feeling pro foundly depressed for me one message predominated abuse is everywhere and no one is immune of course we want to stop abuse but do we want to create a generation of paranoid youth who recoil in fear every time so meone puts a friendly hand on their shoulder i feel strongly that as parents we should be involved in the kind of information our children are obtaining on such sensitive topics some studies have defined un dressing in the sight of ones children as sexual abuse such a definition would naturally make abuse figures high and would also make a mockery of any serious analysis by all means lets educate our children about the real dangers of life but lets also keep a sense of balance if the powers that be in our education system are going to tackle such controversial issues within the school curriculum they have an obligation to consult parents and invite them to participate sears january portrait sale i 1 m i- urn cw fvgk fc k v bk m have portraits taken early and save10 on our 24piece portrait package bonus savings on early portraits sears portrait studio save 10 on our 24piece portrait package now only sears portrait stu wo 1 loxuwbnfertralr lswimsmtf 145 ngh95 hurryi offer good now through 12189 save 8 24piece portrait pac now only cbf ac iimdss ivngk95 offer good 12289 through 2489 on our 24piece portrait package nowcniy pfkffmpwiu wwh noitwojobuwt odivnimdpocta nooppamnmfltmcvmory adwblfonxaiwcom uwjcrsercord not cooaobl rra ony cw oowtatd rfcrf noi rdmabu for calk sconconocb inc oeproairaota lilt stwctot loccrtocj rn soon recoil norti scouting well- remembered l i present coupon ai time of sitting- sears 1 your moneys worth and more y by art briggsjude back before the advent of television when my generation vas growing up a lot of the kids joined the boy scout movement wed start off as cubs and rwhen about 12 years old go up as they called it to become scouts we never quite got in- volved with the senior branch called rover scouts because the war came along yet as anyone who has spent time in the scout organization will agree these years produced some of the happiest times of our lives with all the energy of youth to burn what better place to con sume this vigor than in the outof doors and while the majority of juveniles today have options and opportunities we only dreamed about i think by and large they may be missing out on something too it must be extremely difficult for a present day scout leader for example to keep the majority in a group of boys interested in hiking camping and wood lore the competition of organized sport modern science tv and a host of other activities certainly have a much greater appeal im not knocking these pur suits just trying to show the in volvement in such things often removes much of the opportunity for experiencing the outdoors in a persons growing up years yet the scout movement is not alone in this regard as a check on the junior membership of any fish and game club or naturalist association will show unless kids have parents or so meone else interested in taking them out and doing such things together they will never taste some of these simple pleasures of life these young people will never feel the tranquility and closeness of nature unless they have camped on a secluded lake they wont recognize the night sounds of the woodlands unless bivouaced there these same future citizens may never get to know the true personalities of their acquaintances unless they share some backwoods time together in our modern lifes evolution from the treadmill to the escalator many of todays kids will all too often lose the in dividual participation in outdoor activities their predecessors had even country children with more noticeable outdoor oppor tunities than their urban counter parts may be losing some of the basics of nature to the speed of travel and the shrinking world i like to believe that the trials tribulations and unexpected events young people are exposed to during such away-from- civilization trips are important parts of their educational curriculum later in life when faced with a similar set of circumstances birdeount on ir hji yjucj dear jim one of the more exciting events c naturalists is the annual christmas bird count held each year on a chosen day between dec 16 and jan 3 fifteen hundred counts are taken each year in north america for many years pickering has chosen boxing day for its count the area covered is from the uxbridge townline in the north to lake ontario in the south which is divided into 12 sections each covered by a small group of birders about 40 people in all others help by counting birds br that come to their feeders during that day it was well after dark before all those who took part arrived at our home to compile their results while enjoying hot soup cheese crackers and sharing experiences of the day a highlight for one group was seeing a coyote crossing a hay field they were delighted when the coyote flushed out 150 snow buntings had it not been for the coyote the snow buntings the only ones seen that day would have gone unnoticed reported the leaders of that group thpsewho helped me in the northauast section were pleased to add house finches to our list at claremont to the east on the south side of the uxbridge townline 14 evening grosbeaks were the only flock seen that day south of balsam we searched in vain for a pair of wintering bluebirds they were seen just before and again since our count day no crossbills redpolls or pinesiskins which were so numerous last year were observ ed this year canada geese were up in numbers ducks were down house finches showed a large they will have the necessary ex perience to react favourably you wont for instance hear any detrimental remarks about socalled boy sprouts when a former scout leads his lost hun ting comrades out of the woods or pulls a drowning child from a swollen creek fortunately the scout move ment is still active and available in many areas today they may have modernized the program added a couple of new groups and put in a few new wrinkles but the basics are still there comradeship help and respect for others woodlore and a brotherhood in the outdoors if you are a lad reading these lines go for it and if youre an adult wanting to help the kids in your neighborhood go for it too there is no better time and no greater opportunity i know because so meone helped me become a scout when i was young xsx increase from none in 1984 21 in 1986 and 161 this year the final tally for the day was 67 species 14863 individual birds which was about average over a 10year period in pickering all the results and information received including names of par- ticipants involved in the christmas bird count in north america will be published in a special issue of the journal american birds sincerely edgerton pegg claremont complete eyeglasses j39 plus u fantastic choice of frames s i firstquality lenses s j eyeglass case s v lens cleaner s u eyeglass cord s certain conditions may apply have you had your eyes examined lately ontario global television network 25 i 1 jay gordon mcmullin of chatham west 1908 wkioh rd al lawrence 2497761 westway contra 1735 ktpltng at dixon 2480281 2121 jn st at wilson 2455153 central 84914 blow st w east ol ossington 5375303 565 cocega sl w at manning ave 5304783 s our stp vhstov 1120 caledonia rd n of lawrence 7870315 olndktqubcfttoffrtglttonompnmim 2406 btax st- w at jane 7672114 downtown 27 oueen st e at victoria st 3621537 east warden sheppard plaza 3315 sheppard ave e mormngskjo mall at kingston rd 4977555 2819800 north marfcvfla shopping centre 5000 hwy 7atmccowan 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