Lead paint in schools Q&A

The good news is, as you will learn in this Q&A, that schools built after 1992 probably do not have a lead paint problem. Schools built before 1978 probably DO have hazardous lead paint. Schools built in the intervening years could or could not — depending on whether they were painted with any of the old stocks of leaded paint that were used up after the 1978 ban on paint containing more than 0.06 percent lead.

Reading through nine questions and answers from the Natural Resources Defense Council will give you more information for discovering if your school has lead paint hazards.

Allstate teams up with Lifehouse to help save the lives of teen drivers

The Allstate Teen Driving program website is a collection of information and guidance for teens, parents and all of us who care about the well being of our teenagers. The images above are from a video in which the popular musicians at Lifehouse perform a song, From Where You Are. The video is dedicated “to teens who have lost their lives in car accidents and to all who love them.”

On the Allstate home webpage for the Teen Driving program you can also click to play the Lifehouse video and also to play an Allstate television commercial in which the video and Lifehouse music comprise the content, with a voice-over reminder at the end that every year nearly 6000 teenagers in the United States “go out for a drive and never come back” — and that just talking with them can make a difference. Guidance for doing so is provided in a section on the program website called: Start the Conversation - Teaching Your Teen to Drive, Talking About Safe Driving.

American Academy of Pediatrics staph safety guidelines

Advice from the pediatricians—doctors dedicated to the health of all children—for keeping safe from staph infections has been posted on the doctors’ Academy website. The guidelines begin with background on the bacterium and how its infections are spread and treated. The guidelines for protecting children from being infected by staph are presented in three sections: how to prevent/control spread, messages for school personnel, and messages for students/parents. Once again, as mentioned in an earlier Defywire Watch post, everyone is strongly admonished to wash their hands.

These authoritative guidelines are clear, concise, and well worth reading, reproducing and sharing.

Talking with children about violence

The tragic headlines today about the school shooting in Finland are the tip of a media iceberg that will crowd television, radio, print and digital media for the next several days. Even when a terrifying school event occurs on the other side of the world, it reaches the homes, schools and places of play for millions of children. Adults are confronted with what to say to young people about the event, and about the broader ideas of violence that are brought up by news coverage.

The following guidance is from the guidelines of the National Education Association (NEA):

Your child watches a newscast that contains a lot of violence.

Watching the news and other media with your child enables you to discuss current events like war and other conflicts, and can provide an opportunity to reinforce the consequences of violence and to assure your child that they are safe. Ask your child what she’s heard about it and how she feels about it. Listen carefully to encourage your child’s full expression of feelings and thoughts. Answer any questions she has. Don’t overwhelm a child with information. Mainly, you want to make sure you have an opportunity to answer questions and provide comfort.

Also, take care to reassure her that you and school officials will do your best to assure his or her safety. And let your child know you’re available if she wants to talk more at another time.

Even if you don’t see your child watching coverage of a major violent event, don’t ignore it. If there’s a major story in the news, especially one involving children, your child probably knows about it.

Talking about shootings with your children

These pages at the FamilyEducation website suggest “the words you need” to talk about school shootings with children at three age levels: 4-to7 years-old, 8-to-12 years-old and teenagers. It is interesting that the advice was written in response to the Littleton, Colorado shootings in 1999, eight years ago, but remains an often visited source. A more recent round-up at msnbc of suggestions for talking with kids about shootings at schools provides similar guidance.