Stress, anxiety, panic disorders, depression, obsessive
compulsion and sleep deprivation. Physical and emotional issues
usually affecting some adults are now the signs of today's troubled
kids.Elementary-age children are being treated for depression, and high
school guidance counselors say mental health issues are on the
rise.Franciscan Skemp Behavioral Health clinical therapist Christine
Hughes is among the local experts who see an increase in
elementary, middle and high school students battling emotional
disorders. Many are pushing themselves too hard and are driven to
achieve."I figure kids are more stressed out. … They have homework from
kindergarten," she said. "I think it has something to do with the
increased demands on kids academically that they're not just all
skipping on a playground and having a great day."Family issues can be the trigger; so can testing or relationships
or varied expectations, Hughes said.Hughes and others say kids are sleep-deprived, and despite often
being high achievers, they exhibit low self-esteem and resort to
self-mutilation that includes cutting and eating disorders."We need to stop ourselves and the notion that we are … tied to
technology and need to communicate and have a need for things and
perfectionism and certain standards," said Randy Kahn, a Family
& Children's Center therapist who works in the agency's Viroqua
office."We really bought into this weird picture, and yet something so
obviously is out of whack in so many serious, troubling ways, and
we don't do anything about it," Kahn said.
133 portables for kindergarten in BC
The B.C. government has signed a deal with an Aldergrove company to build portable classrooms to house extra students entering the school system under the government's new all-day kindergarten program, the government says.
Shelter Industries will get $28.5 million to build 133 modular classrooms at its plants in Aldergrove and the Okanagan, Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid said in a release Thursday.
The company is contracted to deliver and install the units in 24 different school districts by next September.
The buildings will use B.C. wood and energy-efficient heating and cooling systems that will minimize operating costs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, said MacDiarmid.
In addition to the 133 modular classrooms for the kindergarten kids, the government is also creating another 122 classrooms through school additions and renovations, the minister said.
The first phase of full-day kindergarten began in September.
When the program is extended to all kindergarten students in September 2011, the number of children in the program could be around 40,000, said MacDiarmid.
via www.cbc.ca
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