Life Support

cross-posted from: https://aussie.zone/post/33107405

This free, family-friendly event is all about our youngest Queenslanders with live kids’ entertainment, creative activities, food trucks, and helpful resources for parents.

Kids can:

🐾 Explore local parks & wildlife through fun, hands-on activities 🌱 Discover the wonders of nature and learn about conservation 🌏 Build early awareness of sustainability in simple, engaging ways

Find your closest event at: https://events.premiers.qld.gov.au/littlequeenslanders/find-an-event.aspx

It’s scientifically proven that laughter reduces stress hormones, relaxes muscles and can improve heart, immune and mental health [in adults].

This is even more true in children who rely on laughter to strengthen social bonds and personal wellbeing.

A new evidence-based book by early childhood expert Dr Jacqueline Harding, The Brain That Loves to Laugh, shows that laughter in children contributes to their ability to handle stress and embrace new experiences.

So have fun and laughs with the children in your life. Everyone wins!

https://connectsci.au/news/news-parent/9408/Children-s-laughter-linked-to-resilience-and

Messages, content and influencers once confined to fringe or radicalised online communities are now showing up in young men’s social media feeds. Young men don’t necessarily seek out this content, the algorithm takes them to it.

What’s striking is how these manosphere ideologies show up and spread – embedded within the culturally relevant topics and trends young men care about, such as gaming, fashion, sports and music.

The Albanese government introduced laws to ban kids from using social media, but it’s done little to stop kids from being subject to online gambling ads.

Australia Institute research shows that almost one in three 12-17 year-olds gamble. In fact, Australian teenagers are more likely to gamble than to play soccer, basketball, cricket or any other sport.

Like big tobacco, the gambling industry knows if it can get kids hooked, it has a pipeline of customers for life. That’s why they pour so much money into gambling ads and lobbying efforts to keep their profits rolling in.

And it works. Australians are the biggest gamblers in the world. We’re also the biggest losers – Australians lose over $30 billion to gambling a year. That’s more per capita than any other country in the world.

The solutions are not hard or complicated. If we ban online gambling ads, fewer people – fewer children – will be lured into a gambling habit that could last and cost a lifetime...

The only thing that’s missing is the political will.

✍️ Add your name now to join the call for gambling reform!

^https://nb.australiainstitute.org.au/gambling

When families have stable housing, manageable financial pressure, and access to mental health care, children are less likely to develop serious mental health problems later on.

Early support for parents and the above factors don't sound like rocket science but we need to keep reminding our governments. Preventing the development of problems at home early in the piece will lessen bigger social problems later on. The article also provides links to programs (including online) that help with parenting.

Are they more harmful to kids?

Yes. This is because children have much smaller airways than adults, which can become blocked or irritated more easily. They also breathe more quickly relative to their body size, meaning they may inhale more potentially toxic substances at a time.

Children are often drawn to these metallic-looking cake products because they appear to be sparkly. They are also more likely to accidentally inhale cake dusts, for example while helping decorate cakes or blowing out candles.

In the Queensland case, the child inhaled about one tablespoon of gold cake dust before he started coughing, became unresponsive and ultimately spent days in an induced coma. It’s likely the inhaled dust entered the boy’s lungs, where it blocked his airways.

This case shows the importance of keeping toddlers away from anything they could swallow, or that may settle in their lungs.

Aluminium, copper, zinc? We're doing to cakes what we're doing to our bodies in order to look glamourous or whatever 🙄 😠

This is a useful article that gives you a pretty comprehensive list of available after-hour services.

I proposed to our admins starting a new community that focuses on how current issues affect people personally, in their everyday life. All of a sudden, here it is! Not really happy with the name so if you have a bright idea, pitch it!

The main aim of the community is to find ways to support ourselves and each other with evidence-based knowledge. A second aim is having a group that will be sympathetic to people's questions and situations, if these arise, without trespassing on privacy. It is not meant to be an Agony Aunt column.

Topics could relate to:

• ways to look after health at different stages of life
• family interactions, triumphs and challenges
• people who are on their own and their triumphs and challenges
• technology in people's lives: effects, coping and solutions
• children and education,
• where to find support for diverse issues and also what alternatives there might be
• whatever else may be useful for people to know which may support them in their daily living or give them insight.

I was going to add points on race, gender and sexuality because no one should be excluded but as I am by no means an expert, I thought it better to leave these topics out unless people think they apply to them and that they would contribute with posts that would be supportive to them and help everyone else to get understanding.

I'll be moderating and I hope some other person(s) will join me. If you like the aims of the community please say so. If you'd like to add to or change any of the above, also speak up. It's early days.