Good neighbours act to save thousands of children as NSPCC launches £50m appeal to grow helplines

Neighbours are acting to save thousands of children living in appalling and dangerous conditions, the NSPCC reveals

Last year, concerned members of the public contacted the charity’s Helpline every five minutes on average, with nearly 10,000 calls being so serious they needed urgent attention. One in three of these came from people living near the abused child and their action helped at least 7000 children.

However, the full scale of child abuse in communities is even higher. At least one in six calls from neighbours and others cannot be answered by overstretched Helpline counsellors, leaving many children at risk of serious harm.

Last year the Helpline received 95,000 calls but 15,000 went unanswered. Most people wait at least a month before calling to help a child, outnumbering those ringing on the same day by seven to one.

To that end, the NSPCC has announced a major expansion of its helplines to enable the charity to recruit and train more counsellors and encourage more people to take action sooner.

A £50m ‘Child’s Voice Appeal’ (childsvoiceappeal.org.uk) is being launched to help grow the service and ensure all these cries for help are covered. This is in addition to £30m already donated by the UK government, which recognises the importance of expanding the NSPCC’s helplines.

Recent calls included one about a nine-year-old boy who had the barrel of a gun placed in his mouth. In another a neighbour described a young girl being threatened with an axe by her father and a third involved a homeless twelve-year-old who was terrified of going to sleep in case he woke up to find his alcoholic mum dead.

In other calls neighbours have described seeing a young mother dangling her two-year-old child by the wrist from a second floor window, parents constantly screaming and swearing at their youngsters and many living in households where drugs are openly used. One shocked woman told how she went into a house where the floors were covered with rubbish and dog mess and the milk in a baby’s bottle had turned green because it was so old.

John Cameron, Head of the NSPCC Helpline, said, “Every day we deal with tragic stories of children who are living in the most heart-rending and often dangerous conditions. Many of them are so young they are helpless so their only hope is for someone to see how dreadful their lives are and take action to save them. When they do that we have to be sure we can take their calls.

“Not all children brought to our attention are at serious risk of harm, but many are in very distressing situations. We were asked to help one five-year-old girl who was so hungry she started eating toilet paper to block out the hunger pangs.”

One caller who saw three young children being violently beaten by their parents told a Helpline counsellor, “Please help them. I just want them to have a better future.”

John Cameron added, “It is outrageous that our country’s children continue to suffer such cruelty in 2008. Thankfully, there are many responsible neighbours who are looking out for these children. But we want more to join them and to call as soon as they suspect something is wrong. You might think it’s a difficult thing to make a call like that but in the vast majority of cases the people who rang because they believed the matter was urgent were right.

“It only takes a few seconds to dial the 0808 800 5000 number and that could save a child’s life. Now we have to raise the money to make sure we play our part.”

Dame Mary Marsh, director and chief executive of the NSPCC said, “Our Full Stop Campaign has spurred millions of people to act in recent years. The Child’s Voice Appeal is a major step forward against child cruelty and will allow us to help many more children. Every £10 donated helps us answer another call which could save a child’s life.

“The UK government is committed to helping us develop the NSPCC Helpline and ChildLine. We are confident the public will now play its part in supporting the appeal – working together towards our ultimate aim of ending child cruelty.”

www.childsvoiceappeal.org.uk

Video: Make a Rice Krispie 5-a-side football team with Annabel Karmel

Annabel Karmel reveals her favourite kids party food recipe

Learn how to make a Rice Krispie 5-a-side football team in under 6 minutes!

If you are like most parents, chances are you’ve got yourself into a real panic about cooking food for a children’s party. Well the worrying stops here! In a rare opportunity we caught up with nutritionist Annabel Karmel who in a step by step video guide shares one of her own recipes, a Rice Krispie Football team and football pitch! But don’t worry, although this might sound complicated, this guide is so easy to follow you certainly won’t get caught offside!

The best part about this recipe is that both you and the children can get involved, whether it’s mixing the ingredients together, cutting out footballers, or making the grass – there is an activity for kids of all ages. And seeing the fruits of their labours emerging gives kids a real sense of achievement. So what are you waiting for, click here and cook up a storm!

Watch Annabel’s video (part of Kellogg’s Big Bake) below:

Click anywhere on the window below to start watching the video. Please note that this is quite a large video, and if you are using a slow Internet connection it could take some time to begin playing, or may stop and start. If you’d prefer to download the whole video to watch offline, right-click on the “Download” link below and save the linked file to your computer’s hard drive

Download

Music Bugs: Play is the way to improving literacy and numeracy in young children

Helping your child on the way to good reading and numeracy skills is very important, as is play and interaction, so Music Bugs has combined the two.

By setting up locally-run classes for children aged six months to four years of age and entertaining children through music, singing, puppet shows and other activities, it engages the young audience and encourages them to get involved and learn basic skills such as counting, sequencing and pattern matching.

Founder and Managing Director of Music Bugs, Claire Bennett, explained, “A toddler may just think that they are having fun, sitting on mum or dad’s lap and playing with a hand puppet, but they are actually building up an awareness of order, sequencing and patterns which help to develop counting skills and critical thinking. It is often the case that the child is having so much fun, they don’t realise that they are
actually learning and being very clever indeed.”

There’s a growing number of franchises running nationwide, so there’s bound to be something near you. There’s also a lot to be said for encouraging your child to learn through play at home.

Music Bugs

Bounce: A new type of floor material that can keep kids safer

Barefoot Living has announced a new innovation in flooring. Designed for use in nurseries and playrooms, and with a range of bright and bold designs, Bounce is springy, seamless, easy to clean, and made from recycled material.

Designed by mums at the flooring company, Bounce is installed by Barefoot Living’s own expert fitters.

Company owner Dawn Gibbins MBE said that mums wanted something safe, sustainable and easy to look after.

“The floor is nice and springy, so it absorbs knocks and bumps, but it is still really hard-wearing and – because it’s seamless and a sealed surface – it’s easy to clean too.

“It is a great surface for children to stretch their little toes and walk barefoot.”

Barefoot Floors

New “sick day” guidelines for children issued by US school nurses

‘Tis the season for coughs and colds and they certainly do the rounds in schools, which is why the National Association of School Nurses has issued some “Sick Day Guidelines” that offer advice on whether to send a child to school or not if they have some kind of cold.

These useful guidelines could be applied in most countries and while there are no absolute rules, they could help to reassure a worried parent that they’re doing the best for their child and the school.

Things to look out for that could mean it’s better to keep a child home from school include:

• having a fever of 100.4ËšF (38ËšC) or greater
• vomiting
• excessive tiredness
• lack of appetite
• productive coughing/sneezing
• headache, body aches, earache
• sore throat

Flu (influenza) in children is serious, and any signs of a high fever, chills, aches, nausea, vomiting, or dry cough should be investigated by a GP straight away.

There’s also advice on minimising the risks of getting a cold in the first place.

The PDF document can be downloaded from the NASN website.

Sex may be as good as going to the gym for body workout

It’s not the best reason to want to have sex with a partner, but a new survey suggests that many people (over a quarter) are initiating intimacy as a way to trim their bodies and lose a few pounds.

Nearly half of those questioned believe that an energetic sex session gives them a better workout than they would get at the gym.

The poll of 3,000 Brits also revealed that non gym goers are getting similar benefits to those who regularly exercise at a health club by hitting the sack with their loved one.

The research shows the average Brit has sex an average of three times a week, lasting 24 minutes a session, yet the typical gym member will only fare four minutes better, by exercising twice a week, spending 38 minutes working out each time and their hard earned cash on expensive membership fees.

16% of fitness freaks questioned said they count sex as being part of their exercise regime, which isn’t surprising as 11% of people claim to feel completely exhausted after a workout between the sheets, and another third always feel tired and out of breath.

More than three quarters end up sweating, with 40% saying they sweat more after sex, than they do after a gym session.

Britain may also see its population fitness levels rocket further as more than half of the Brits surveyed say they are planning to have more sex in 2009 and 27% claim to be having more sex thanks to the credit crunch.

However, the energetic sex doesn’t always go to plan as 37% have suffered an injury after getting too frisky.

Director of onjoy.com Monique Carty said, “The average lovemaking session can burn between 50 and 100 calories. This means that having sex three times a week burns 7500 calories per year, the equivalent of jogging 75 miles! With the gloomy weather and shorter days, Brits should embrace the health benefits of sex by staying longer in bed with their partner – and shape up at the same time.”

PODCAST: The hassle-free children’s party

Download the kids’ party podcast to make your life easier on that special day

Your child’s party is one of the golden moments in life – both for you and them. But of course there’s a lot of planning to be done before hordes of excited children pour through your front door!

In order to make life a little easier we’ve prepared the Organix party podcast full of handy hints and four party games – complete with disco soundtrack supplied by our friends at Baby Loves Disco! There’s musical statues, pass the parcel and musical chairs to get everyone moving – then a tranquil game of sleeping lions when it’s time to wind things down again.

The podcast can literally be left to play and run the party – we’ve set it for a party of ten children so there are enough gaps for the winner to be chosen. Of course you can pause at anytime should you want to stop for a snack!

You can download an MP3 version or alternatively an AAC file that has various chapter information.

Have fun!

Do you Twitter about family? Let us know, get connected

Once almost exclusively the domain of “techies”, particularly in Silicon Valley, Twitter is now getting quite a fan base across the world and with “ordinary” people.

Even Phillip Schofield tweets, as he announced to thousands of viewers on This Morning during the week.

We know that plenty of parents blog, as do a number of organisations and companies that are concerned about parenting and children’s issues. So we thought we’d try to build up a collection of Twitterers here at Family Relationships Magazine.

If you’re a mum, dad, carer, family- or children-oriented charity, or a company offering relevant products, and you have a Twitter account, why not let us know? Either follow our own Twitter stream at http://twitter.com/familyrelations and we’ll follow back, or email us at family@familyrelationships.org.uk/.

UK government supports “From Bump to Breastfeeding” DVD

Expectant mums across the UK will have access to a new breastfeeding resource thanks to a collaboration between the Department of Health and child health charity Best Beginnings.

The From Bump to Breastfeeding – following real mothers’ stories to find out how DVD gives positive and practical information to encourage mums to breastfeed and help increase breastfeeding rates across the UK.

Recent statistics (2005) show that, while over three-quarters of mothers started breastfeeding their new-born baby, a third had stopped within six weeks. Those numbers also drop significantly when looking at the younger age group – for mums under 20, just half were breastfeeding their baby.

Produced by Jacqueline Smith, the 35-minute film features nine women who chart their expectations and concerns as they prepare for motherhood.

The Department of Health recommends exclusive breastfeeding up to the age of six months, with continued breastfeeding, alongside other food and drink after six months. That’s because breast milk gives babies all the nutrients they need for the first six months of life and helps protect them from infection and diseases, such as gastrointestinal infections, ear infections, urine infections, eczema and obesity in later childhood.

Dawn Primarolo, Public Health Minister, said, “The DVD will appeal to all women who are having a baby as it follows ordinary women on their breastfeeding journey and addresses hopes and concerns that are relevant to all. The DVD demonstrates breastfeeding as the normal and natural way to feed a baby and will support mums to continue to breastfeed and help them give their baby the best start in life.”

Best Beginnings founder & CEO Alison Baum said, “Only with accurate information and practical support can there be real choice for families about how to feed their babies. The DVD will enable more mothers across the UK to have the information and reach out for support so they can enjoy breastfeeding their babies for as long as they wish.”

More information is available at the Best Beginnings web site.

Live web event: Monkeys: Make them your business

Log on with your kids to find out the really wild truth about our monkey relatives and how to actually make them one of the family

Chat date: 21st January
Chat time: 2pm

Throughout time man has had a fascination with monkeys and apes. Children in particular seem mesmerised by their intelligence, playfulness and inquisitiveness. From Curious George to Marcel’s feature role in Friends our love of our closest relative has never waned.

But in some parts of the world many species of monkey are under threat from the destruction of their habitat and exploitation by man. Which is why across the world there are teams of dedicated volunteers working to protect these animals, safeguarding their habitats and working with local communities help to create a better future for people and wildlife.

The Lilongwe Wildlife Centre in Malawi is one of them. Staff at the sanctuary rescue injured monkeys and help them to recuperate before releasing them back into the wild. Supported by Born Free, the sanctuary relies on donations from companies and people to keep their great work going.

Lee Stewart, who heads up the sanctuary at Lilongwe will be joining us live to tell you everything you ever wanted to know about monkeys and introduce you to some of the 40 vervets and baboons at the sanctuary, all with their own incredible stories.

Joining Lee is Heartbeat’s Joe McFadden. Joe, who plays PC Joe Mason in the ITV series, is a long-standing supporter of Born Free. And alongside him will be Bruce Learner of Kellogg’s – who has teamed up with Born Free to give people the opportunity to take part in the amazing Adopt a Monkey scheme. From January to March 2009, people have the chance to directly help these animals and ‘Adopt a Monkey’ by collecting three special packs of Kellogg’s cereal. Each adoption will last six months and will help Born Free rescue and rehabilitate monkeys and return them to the wild.

To learn more about these incredible creatures and how you can help your children understand more about the monkey kingdom, log on to our live WebTV show.

Lee Stewart, Joe McFadden and Bruce Learner join us live online at http://www.webchats.tv/chat/monkeys_make_them_your_business on 21th January at 2pm to discuss how you can learn about how to help save monkeys from your home.

Click here to submit questions before the chat

To find out more about how Kellogg’s is helping Born Free please visit: http://www.kelloggs.co.uk/whatson/adoptamonkey

Live web event: How to Tackle Tough Topics With Teenagers

With all the busyness of the New Year, I almost let this announcement slip through the net, but there’s still time to take part and watch the show How to Tackle Tough Topics With Teenagers

From GotATeenager.org.uk:

Judging how to talk with your teenager about risky subjects like sex, drugs and alcohol can be hard. Our webchat with parenting expert Suzie Hayman makes it easier

Chat date: Tuesday 20th January
Chat time: 12.30pm (GMT)

Talking to your child about sex, drugs and drinking can be hard, but it is crucial if you are to give them the confidence to navigate through the minefield of the teenage years. As a parent or teacher, we must accept that the increasing desire to experiment is part of growing up – but not all kids are able to work easily through the risks and situations they face. While we cannot always be there to guide our children, we can make sure we prepare them in the best way possible by talking openly, discussing key issues and offering guidance on how to stay safe.

Knowing how to help your teen without seeming judgmental or out-of-touch is no simple task. That’s why renowned author and parenting expert Suzie Hayman is hosting an exclusive webchat that will make communicating with your kids on tricky subjects much easier and more successful. Suzie has established herself as an authority on teenage behaviour over a career spanning more than 20 years. As well as dispensing invaluable advice she’ll be taking your questions live online and telling you about a new website for parents of teens. Log on to the chat for the full story.

You still have time to submit a question for Suzie to answer, and the whole web chat can be viewed at this WebChats.tv page.