Don’t push your kids too hard

 

Dr.B.Spock on bringing up today’s children.

Find the answers to the questions:

1. Are children raised in single-parent homes more stressed than other kids?

2. How do working mothers affect kids?

3. Do parents harm kids by pushing them to achieve?

4. Dr. Spock, why are today’s children under stress?

5. Is watching television harmful to kids?

6. Are there specific things to avoid?

7. What kind of parents will today’s children make?

8. Do the new stresses on kids make them better equipped to deal with adult stresses?

9. Is it harder to be a parent today?

 

A. Partly because we’ve given up so many of the comforts and sources of security of the past, such as the extended family and the small, tightly knit community and the comfort and guidance that people used to get from religion.

B. It is stressful to children to have to cope with groups, with strangers, with people outside the family. That has emotional effects, and, if the deprivation of security is at all marked, it will have intellectual effects, too.

We know now that if there’s good day care it can substitute pretty well for parental care. But, though we’re the richest country the world has ever known, we have nowhere near the amount of subsidized day care we need. We’re harming our children emotionally and intellectually to the degree that they’re in substandard day care.

C. It’s not that a single parent can’t raise a child well but that it’s harder to raise a child in most cases with one parent than it is with two parents. The parents can comfort and consult and back up each other.

D. Our emphasis on fierce competition and getting ahead minimizes the importance of cooperation, helpfulness, kindness, lovingness. These latter qualities are the thing that we need much more than competitiveness. I’m bothered, for instance, at the way we coach young children in athletics and, even more ludicrous, the interest we focus on superkids. It hasn’t gone very far, but there are parents who, when they hear that other children are learning to read at the age of 2, think, “My God, we should be providing reading instruction, too,” without ever asking the most significant question: “Does it make the child a better reader or is there any other advantage to learning to read at 2 rather than waiting until age 6?” It imposes strains on children.

E. Absolutely no violence on television. Don’t give war toys. These are poisonous to children. This whole Rambo spirit is a distressing thing, especially in the most violent country in the world.

F. A lot of what they see brutalizes sexuality. In simpler societies, you don’t see people smashing each other in the face or killing each other. The average American child on reaching the age of 18 has watched 18,000 murders on TV. Yet we know that every time a child or an adult watches brutality, it desensitizes and brutalizes them to a slight degree. We have by far the highest crime rates in the world in such areas as murders within the family, rape, wife abuse, child abuse. And yet we’re turning out more children this way, with this horrible profusion of violence that children watch on TV. It’s a terrible thing.

G. No, human beings do make some adjustment to stresses, but that doesn’t mean that they’re doing better by being brought up with stresses. It’s going to make them more tense, more harsh, more intensely competitive and more greedy. I don’t think people can live by that. It is a spiritual malnutrition, just like a lack of vitamins or a lack of calories.

H. If they’re brought up with tension and harshness, then they’ll do the same with their children. Everybody acquires his attitude and behavior toward his children by how he was treated in his own childhood. What was done to you in childhood, you are given permission to do. To put it more positively, good parental standards are what make for a better society and poor parental standards are what make for a deteriorating society.

I. Yes. When I started pediatric practice in ’33, parents worried about polio and pneumonia. Now they have to worry about drugs and teenage pregnancy and nuclear annihilation.

 

NOTE: Text “Don’t push your kids too hard” may be used for the role game “Round table talk: On bringing up today’s children”.

 

LIVING OUT LOUD

 

Timothy Stevens has lived most of his life in a silent world. Until six months ago, he had never heard his mother’s voice, never listened to music and never heard the sound of birds singing or the laughter of his playmates.

#0- His mother, Sandra, knew that something was wrong with her baby son, because he did not have the same reactions as other babies. “If I didn’t look into Tim’s eyes, he didn’t seem to know I was there,” she says. When he was eight months old, Sandra took Timothy to the hospital and explained why she was worried. The doctors carried out hearing tests and decided that Timothy must be a little backward. #1-

Sandra insisted that the hospital should send Timothy to a specialist for more tests. Unfortunately, it was a long time before a specialist would see him. Finally, when he was almost two years old, Timothy and his mother went to a children’s hospital in Manchester where the staff had plenty of experience in dealing with deaf children.

#2- At last, someone believed her when she told them that her son was deaf. “Doctors often think that others worry too much about their children and that they always think the worst,” she smiles. “I knew I was right about Tim, but it took almost two years before the doctors would agree with me.” However, even Sandra had not imagined that Timothy’s condition could be as serious as it was.

#3- Doctors told Sandra that there was no chance that his hearing would ever improve. Sandra was shocked to learn that the only hope for Timothy was to have a bionic implant.

#4- The electrodes would send electric signals to his brain, which would allow him to hear them as sounds. The implant would not allow Timothy to hear perfectly, but it would be the only way for him to ever have a chance of overcoming his deafness. After checking that there was no serious risk involved, Sandra put Timothy’s name on the waiting list for the operation. Because he was so young, the doctors decided that Timothy should be given the implant as soon as possible.

#5- “I have to admit, I was very worried,” says Sandra, “but only hours after he came out of theatre, he was playing with the other children on the ward and I knew he was going to be fine! I couldn’t wait to find out whether or not the operation had been successful.” The moment of truth came on Timothy’s third birthday, when the doctors switched on the implant for the very first time. Timothy played with toys in the doctor’s surgery while a speech therapist played different sounds and checked his reactions. When Sandra said, “Hello Timothy,” and he looked into her eyes, she cried tears of happiness.

Timothy is now enjoying a life full of sound. #6- He is also attending the local nursery school where he likes nothing more than to make as much noise as possible as he plays with his friends.

Timothy celebrated his fourth birthday last week.

#7- “He is driving me mad with the noise he makes,” laughs Sandra, “and that’s something I never imagined I would complain about! For me, though, the greatest gift of all is to hear my son talking and to know that he can hear me when I speak to him.”

 

 

Find the right comment to each part of the text:

A – He has already learnt several words and phrases which allow him to communicate with his mother.

B - His presents included a variety of musical instruments which he loves to play with.

C - Sandra was relieved to find people who would listen to her.

D - A full examination showed that Timothy was completely deaf.

E - However, Sandra knew that the problem was more serious than that.

F - Timothy is only able to communicate by using sign language.

G - Three months before his third birthday, he went into hospital to have the operation that would change his life.

H - Timothy was born deaf.

I - This would mean having an operation to put a special receiver in Timothy’s head, with electrodes connected to the nerves in his ears.

 

E. Лексические тесты.

 

SLEEPING (1)

 

Every baby is different and has very 1..... needs. Your 2..... baby may need more than twenty hours of sleep a day or she may only 3..... twelve. You’ll find that your baby’s sleep 4..... is as individual as her fingerprint. We give you some information and practical hints to help you 5..... a sound sleep routine with your child.

After nine months of secure, warm comfort, your baby emerges into a strange world of daylight and darkness. For the first few months she’ll 6..... to make any distinction between the two and will 7..... and 8..... whenever it seems right to do so!

At the outset sleep is closely related to 9..... and most babies wake when they are 10...... You’ll soon begin to recognize her own timetable and rhythms, which will 11..... when she wakes and for how long she remains 12..... at any one time.

As she grows 13..... she will need 14..... sleep as she becomes more and more interested in her surroundings. So by the time she’s about four months old, she 15..... to be wide awake for two or three periods each day. By establishing a pattern for her and by associating night with sleep you will help your baby to settle into a routine pattern of 16..... sleeping.

____________________________

1. be unable; 2. awake; 3. older; 4. require; 5. less; 6. night-time; 7. individual; 8. hungry; 9. newborn; 10. establish; 11. pattern; 12. newborn; 13. feeding; 14. determine; 15. sleep; 16. wake.

 

 

SLEEPING (2)

 

Your child may wake at night for a variety of 1...... She may be hungry or thirsty, too 2..... or uncomfortably hot. She may just want a reassuring cuddle or she may be telling you that she is 3...... She may wake 4..... because she’s poorly or teething. Most of these simply need practical 5..... or are situations that will resolve themselves in time.

Some children seem 6..... for no apparent reason. She may have had a vivid dream or have heard an 7..... noise outside. If she 8....., go to her and pacify her, but try not to bring her out of her room. Check that her room is cosy and quiet and 9..... that the curtains are thick enough to keep out the light. You may 10..... to keep a night light on.

Look at what has happened during the day. Is she getting 11..... enough or is she getting 12..... tired during the day? Can you 13..... anything which may be upsetting or frightening her? Try to avoid wild rough and tumbles just before bed too.

You could 14..... reading to her, rocking her to sleep, singing or playing gentle music. While it may be temping 15..... her into bed with you this habit can be very hard to break so it’s usually 16..... to leave her in her cot and let her settle there.

____________________________

1. at night; 2. unusual; 3. need; 4. better; 5. identify; 6. to take; 7. reasons; 8. action; 9. to wake; 10. cold; 11. tired; 12. wet; 13. make sure; 14. cries; 15. try; 16. too.

 

 

BLOOD

 

Blood is a fluid which 1..... though the arteries, capillaries and veins exchanging fluids and gases with the bodily 2...... The latter receive the products 3..... from the food and oxygen taken up by the blood in its passage through the lungs, while the blood 4..... from the tissues carbonic acid gas and various waste products.

Composition. The blood 5..... of corpuscles in addition to the fluid is well-known. They are of the three 6.....: red corpuscles (erythrocytes), white corpuscles (leucocytes) and blood platelets (thrombocytes). In the fluid are dissolved the various salts and 7...... We know the red corpuscles acting as the 8..... of oxygen, which acts as a medium of interchange between the 9..... of the air in the lungs, and the tissues requiring it. There are over 5000000 red corpuscles in every cubic millimeter of 10......

The white corpuscles are of 11..... different kinds, they have many functions to perform, of which the chief are repair of 12....., the absorption of foreign bodies, and the 13..... of bacteria; their 14..... bodies being in large numbers form the matter or pus of abscesses.

Blood groups. People are 15....., in respect of certain reaction of the blood, into four groups. Their being divided into these groups 16..... upon the capacity of the serum of one person’s blood to 17..... the red blood corpuscles of another’s. The reaction depends on antigens in the red corpuscles and 18..... in the serum. There are two of each, the antigens being known as A and B. Anyone’s blood 19..... may have (I) no antigens, (II) antigen A, (III) antigen B. (IV) antigens A and B: these are the four groups. The practical 20..... is that, in blood transfusion, the person giving and the person 21..... the blood should belong to the same blood group, or a 22..... reaction will take place from the agglutination.

____________________________

1. proteins; 2. several; 3. kinds; 4. dead; 5. receiving; 6. corpuscles; 7. circulates; 8. consisting; 9. removes; 10. dangerous; 11. destruction; 12. problem; 13. absorbed; 14. wounds; 15. divided; 16. blood; 17. antibodies; 18. agglutinate; 19. depends; 20. tissues; 21.carriers; 22. oxygen.

 

 

HYGIENE

 

Many infections such as gastroenteritis 1..... E coli, hepatitis A, typhoid and cholera are water-borne and can 2..... a holiday into a nightmare. Travellers 3..... be advised to give careful attention to personal 4....., sterilization of drinking 5..... and to the hygiene with which food has been prepared. Breast feeding 6..... a safe, uncontaminated supply of food and water for 7..... and can usually be continued even if the mother 8..... an infection. For 9..... babies, supplies of a ready-to-feed pre-packed formula are ideal. Scrupulous 10..... must always be paid to sterilization of bottle feeds and equipment. Water should be 11....., as should milk if not pre-packed. Sterilizing water with chlorine tablets is an 12..... method.

Hand 13..... before and after using toilet or changing nappies, sanitary wear or stoma bags is a sensible 14...... If water is not 15....., a supply of disposable moist antiseptic cloths is 16...... Make sure that disposable items are safely wrapped before disposal.

____________________________

1. babies; 2. available; 3. hygiene; 4. turn; 5. useful; 6. due to; 7. boiled; 8. precaution; 9. water; 10. provides; 11. attention; 12. contracts; 13. alternative; 14. washing; 15. bottle-fed; 16. should.

 

F. САМОСТОЯТЕЛЬНОЕ ЧТЕНИЕ.

 

 

A brief overview of AIDS

 

Although we know that AIDS is caused by Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), it was originally observed by its effects on the immune system. An important clue was that AIDS patients often had a lung infection or pneumonia caused by a member of the fungi family of organisms called Pneumocystis carinii. This infection is very rare in healthy individuals but patients with cancers of the immune system itself (lymphomas) are susceptible to this disease. Lymphomas are usually treated by chemotherapy, which is intended to destroy the cancer cells. However, chemotherapy, which is intended to destroy many healthy immune cells along with the cancerous lymphoma cells. Thus, this type of pneumonia predominantly occurs in patients with a damaged immune system. Examination of the immune system in AIDS patients confirmed that the cells of their immune systems were damaged. It had been known for some time that other various virus infections could damage as seen with AIDS was unprecedented. Although it was suspected early on that AIDS resulted from infection by a virus, it was not until 1984 that this virus was finally isolated by both French and American researchers. That virus is now known as HIV.

In addition to pneumonia, AIDS is associated with numerous other infections. These secondary infections are caused by various bacteria, protozoa, other fungi and other viruses. Usually, it is these infections (known as opportunistic infections) that cause death in AIDS patients. In addition to secondary infections AIDS patients frequently develop cancers, including lymphomas and an otherwise rare cancer called Kaposi’s sarcoma. HIV infection also can result in damage to brain cells. This leads to loss of mental function, referred to as AIDS dementia. A more complete description of the clinical features of AIDS is presented further. Most of these opportunistic infections and some other effects of HIV infection can be explained by damage to the immune system by HIV infection.

HIV has a very insidious nature in causing a disease. The early stages of infection are often unapparent, without any visible symptoms. The infected person may feel healthy and appear to be completely normal during this time, known as the incubation period, but such a person is able to transmit the infection. The HIV incubation period is of variable duration, and can be quite long (more than 5 years). Therefore, it is not possible to distinguish infected from uninfected people solely by the time since possible exposure to the virus. In contrast, for most common virus infections, such as colds or influenza, an incubation period of several days will be closely followed by an apparent disease. This adds greatly to the difficulty in studying and controlling AIDS because many people who have the virus have not developed the disease yet.

 

THE AIDS EPIDEMIC. Despite the many different clinical symptoms associated with AIDS, medical investigations have already learned a great deal about how AIDS is spread in our population. For example, it is now clear that HIV transmission requires close contact and that infection occurs by one of only three routes; blood, birth, or sex. Casual contact does not lead to disease transmission. AIDS epidemiology will be further discussed..

Between 1981 (the beginning of AIDS epidemic) and the early part of 1988 about 57,000 cases of AIDS have been reported to the National Center for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia. Of these cases, about 32,000 (56%) have died.

Promiscuous homosexual males were the major afflicted group and represent about 63% of these reported cases. Another 18% of the cases were intravenous drug users, and 7% were both male homosexuals transmissions, or by blood transfusion during the period when American blood supply was not monitored for HIV antibodies (1981-1985).

The AIDS epidemic is not restricted to the USA. It can be found in all continents and hence is considered a pandemic. There may be as many as ten million people in sub-Saharan Africa who are infected with HIV. In Africa, HIV transmission appears to result from heterosexual contact and other modes as well. Given the relatively poor medical support available in much of Africa, the number of infected people is expected to increase significantly. As there is no current cure for AIDS these numbers are alarming. They indicate the clear potential of AIDS to spread unchecked, in spite of recent advances in modern medicine, epidemiology, virology, and recombinant DNA technology. This reminds us of previous eras when major infectious diseases devastated human populations. How can we control this epidemic? An overview of the relationship between epidemics and human populations may shed some light on this.