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Show B2 The Emery County Review, Tuesday, August 5, 2008 The FAMILY PAGE Horoscope Focus On The Family Crossword Figuratively Speaking FOCUS ON THE FAMILY Children can Struggle with Depression, too Dr. James Dobson Q Our school psychologist said she thinks our son is suffering from childhood depression. My goodness! The kid is only nine years old. Is it reasonable that this could be his problem? We used to believe that depression was exclusively an adult problem, but that understanding is changing. Now we’re seeing signs of serious despondency in children as young as five years old. Symptoms of depression in an elementary school child may include general lethargy, a lack of interest in things that used to excite him or her, sleep disturbances, chewed finger nails, loss of appetite, and violent emotional outbursts. Other common reactions are stomach complaints and low tolerance to frustration of any kind. If depression is a problem for your child, it is only symptomatic of something else that is bothering him. Help him or her verbalize feelings. Try to anticipate the explanation for sadness and lead the youngster into conversations that provide an opportunity to ventilate. Make yourself available to listen, without judging or belittling the feelings expressed. Simply being A understood is soothing for children and adults, alike. If the symptoms are severe or if they last more than two weeks, I urge you to take the advice of the school psychologist or seek professional help for your son. Prolonged depression can be destructive for human beings of any age and is especially dangerous to children. As an advocate of spankings as a disciplinary tool, don’t you worry about the possibility that you might be contributing to the incidence of child abuse in this country? Yes, I do worry about that. One of my frustrations in teaching parents has been the difficulty in achieving a balance between permissiveness and oppression. The tendency is to drift toward one extreme or another. Let it never be said that I favor harshness of any kind with children. Q A It can wound the spirit and inflict permanent scars on the psyche. No subject distresses me more than the phenomenon of child abuse which is so prevalent in North America today. There are millions of families out there in which crimes against children are being committed day after day. It is hard to believe just how cruel some mothers and fathers can be to defenseless, wide-eyed kids who don’t understand why they are hated. I remember the terrible father who regularly wrapped his small son’s head in the sheet that the boy had wet the night before. Then he crammed the tot upside down into the toilet bowl for punishment. I also think of the disturbed mother who cut out her child’s eyes with a razor blade. That little girl will be blind throughout her life, knowing that her own mother deprived her of sight! Unthinkable acts like these are occurring every day in cities and towns around us. In fact, it is highly probable that a youngster living within a mile or two of your house is experiencing abuse in one manner or another. Brian G. Fraser, attorney for the National Center for Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse and Neglect, has written: FIGURATIVELY SPEAKING HOROSCOPES BY HOLIDAY Holiday Mathis Inside every spirit, in even the mildest of souls, lies a sleeping dragon dreaming of liberation, just waiting for the moment to free itself from the shackles of conformity. The moment may be now! This week, rebellious Mars and Uranus are a dynamite duo, blasting old dungeon doors in the name of progress. Princess Venus moves into helpful Virgo, too, soothing the firebreathing among us. We’re amidst a potent period of change. ARIES (March 21-April 19). There’s a prejudice against short attention spans, which seems rather silly from your point of view. What’s so wrong with flitting from fascination to fascination? While people around you are eager to devote themselves to concrete attachments, you’re packing in as much knowledge and fun as you can. TAURUS (April 20-May 20). It’s your chance to cut the static out of a relationship. Act with confidence, especially if you’re insecure about how you’ll be received. Speak from the heart and then move on without a second thought. Explanations only cloud the matter. Trust that either you’re understood, or you will be in time. GEMINI (May 21-June 21). Conflict seems inevitable, but it’s not. Have more faith in others, specifically in their ability to work out differences in their own way. Your interference isn’t necessary, so you can relax. Getting involved would only make things more dramatic and important than they need to be. Stand back and watch what happens. CANCER (June 22-July 22). You know what you want to be doing, and yet it seems nearly impossible to get down to business. Interruptions and enticements are determined to keep you from your purpose. Consider that these distractions might be in your best interest and will most likely add to your life in important and memorable ways. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). You know the secret: Spirituality isn’t a matter of how you worship once a week or what charitable causes you give to. It’s reflected in your daily routine, your attitude at work and your willingness to get along with your neighbor. This week you live mindfully, as though your every action is a prayer. Maybe it is. THIS WEEK’S BIRTHDAYS: A burst of creativity and intellectual stamina sets your year off to a productive start. The potential of what you might accomplish is exciting, not only to you, but also to people who will be hiring you and accompanying you on your journey. By January you’re like a new person - not so different from who you are now, but with greater star power. In response to your newfound charisma, doors swing open to financial opportunity and love alike. Family makes encouraging gestures in March. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). You’re oscillating between belief and disbelief. The subjects change someone’s outrageous story at work, the explanation a child gives you for a seeming misbehavior, your own ideas about the divine forces of the universe… You can see the truth and also the untruth in anything you choose to focus on. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). As the sign of diplo- “Child abuse ... once thought to be primarily a problem of the poor and downtrodden ... occurs in every segment of society and may be the country’s leading cause of death in children.” Let me say with the strongest emphasis that aggressive, hard-nosed, “Mommie Dearest” kinds of discipline are destructive to kids and must not be tolerated. Given the scope of the tragedy we are facing, the last thing I want to do is to provide a rationalization and justification for it. I don’t believe in harsh discipline, even when it is wellintentioned. Children must be given room to breathe and grow and love. But there are also harmful circumstances at the permissive end of the spectrum, and many parents fall into one trap in an earnest attempt to avoid the other. (Dr. Dobson is founder and chairman of the board of the nonprofit organization Focus on the Family, Colorado Springs, CO 80995(www.family.org). Questions and answers are excerpted from “Solid Answers” and “Bringing Up Boys,” both published by Tyndale House. Copyright 2008 James Dobson Inc. Distributed by Universal Press Syndicate.) John MacIntyre Source: CareerBuilder.com. Solutions. 87: Percentage of men who 88: Percentage of consum- 73: Percentage of U.S. said they would stay in a relationship where their partner had substantial credit card debt or had filed for bankruptcy, according to a nationwide survey from TRUE.com. 80: Percentage of women who said the same. 66.5: Percentage of men and women who claim they have never kept financial secrets from someone they are dating. Source: True.com. 25: Percentage of workers ers who say they plan to stay home more in an economic downturn, according to the results of a survey conducted by e-Rewards on behalf of Blockbuster Inc. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5: Ranks of eating out, attending entertainment events like concerts and plays, taking vacations, seeing movies in the theater and going to the mall as the most likely candidates for budget cuts. Source: Blockbuster. 54: Percentage of senior- executives who say they are willing to sacrifice at least 1 percent of their salaries to fund their companies’ “green” initiatives, according to a survey conducted by Korn/Ferry International. 40: Percentage who say they would be willing to forgo 1 to 2 percent. 3: Percentage who say they would be willing to forgo 10 percent or more. Source: Korn/Ferry International. 29: When asked to name bosses expect them to be working or at least checking voicemail and e-mail while on vacation. level executives who say they would accept a pay cut for the “right” position -- defined as a position in which they are learning, positively impacting their organization and co-workers and growing professionally -- according to a survey conducted by IMPACT Hiring Solutions. 15: Percentage who say 38: Percentage who would 14: Percentage who say who say they stay in contact with work while on vacation, according to a survey conducted by CareerBuilder. 9: Percentage who say their they gave up vacation days in 2007 because they didn’t have time to use them. take up to an 18 percent pay cut. Source: IMPACT Hiring the most important financial problem facing their families today, percentage of Americans who say energy and gas prices, according to a Gallup Poll. 18: Percentage who cite the high cost of living and inflation. a lack of money and low wages. 9: Percentage who say health care costs. Source: Gallup. Continued on Page B3. 82: Despite the growing availability of other formats for reading -- such as online or with an e-book reader or PDA -- percentage of readers who still like to read the old-fashioned way and curl up with a printed book, according to a Random House/Zogby poll. 11: Percentage of respon- dents who said they are comfortable reading books in other formats, such as online or with an e-book reader or PDA. Source: Zogby International. $30 billion: Amount of money needed annually to eradicate world hunger, relaunch agriculture and avert future threats of conflicts over food, according to Director-General Jacques Diouf of the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization. 862 million: Estimated number of hungry people this money would allow to enjoy the right to food. $1.204 trillion: Amount of money spent on arms in 2006. Source: FAO. Idle Thought Answers on Page B3. “People like to imagine that because all our mechanical equipment moves so much faster, that we are thinking faster, too.” -- Christopher Morley, writer. (Copyright 2008 John MacIntyre Inc. Distributed by Universal Press Syndicate.) |
