CHILDREN AND SMOKE DETECTORS by Penny Wagner Bauer

 

                A recent study has revealed that young children from birth through age 8 or 9 really do not hear smoke detectors when they are sleeping.  You know yourself how sound young children sleep.  Once asleep you can move them from one location to another without them stirring.  We had one young boy in our day care that would regularly be talking to you one minute and asleep the next.  He actually fell asleep in his lunch plate one day!  Then you would move him to his cot and he would not move again for exactly 3 hours.  The other children would get up, we would pick him and his cot up and move it out of the way, the children would play normally and he would not wake up.  In fact one day I looked over to see a toddler sitting on him playing!  I ran and grabbed him and hugged him getting him off the sleeping child, but the child never woke up!  Then an inner alarm would go off and he would wake right up and run to the bathroom and start playing!

            What is the point of this whole story?  Recent studies have shown that when children are sleeping and the smoke detector or even sophisticated electric fire detectors sound, children do not respond. 

            What is the answer?   The studies I have seen and read do not address that, which worried me.  So, I asked our deaf worker how do the deaf handle this problem.  She introduced me to a wonderful company NFSS.  It has a web site www.nfss.com.  There you can find all types of smoke detectors from strobe lights to actually devises that shake a person awake when there is a fire.  They are of course more expensive than the smoke detectors that you can purchase at most stores but I think they are something to be considered.

            If anyone has any other ideas please feel free to contribute the idea to me.

 

 

ENROLLMENT REMINDERS:

 

 THIS PAST CLAIM MONTH WE RECEIVED A LOT OF NEW AND RENEWAL ENROLLMENTS WITH YOUR MENUS.

 

WHEN YOU SEND ENROLLMENTS IN WITH YOUR MENUS THERE IS NO GUARANTEE THAT THE ENROLLMENT WILL BE ENTERED IN TIME FOR THE MONTH YOU ARE CLAIMING. (I.E.- THE CLAIM MONTH IS FEBRUARY AND THE ENROLLMENT IS FOR FEBRUARY 1^ST. SINCE YOU SENT THE ENROLLMENT IN WITH YOUR FEBRUARY MENUS, AT THE END OF THE MONTH, YOU MAY NOT GET PAID FOR THAT CHILD UNTIL THE MARCH CLAIM IS PROCESSED.)

 

     IT IS ALWAYS BETTER TO SEND IN OR BRING IN NEW OR RENEWAL ENROLLMENTS AS SOON AS THE PARENT FILLS THEM OUT. THAT WAY YOU ARE SURE TO HAVE THE INFOR-

MATION ENTERED ON TIME AND GET THEIR ID NUMBER TO PUT ON YOUR SCAN SHEET.

 

     THIS IS ESPECIALLY TRUE IF YOU ARE CHANGING TIMES OR MEALS FOR YOUR CARE CHILD. IF A CHILD THAT WAS CLAIMING MORNINGS IS NOW CLAIMING EVENINGS, AND THE NEW INFORMATION IS NOT ENTERED INTO THE COMPUTER BEFORE THE CLAIM IS SCANNED, YOU WILL NOT GET REIMBURSED FOR THE NEW MEALS. THE ENROLLMENT MUST MATCH WHAT IS IN THE COMPUTER AT THE TIME OF PROCESSING. THERE WILL NOT BE AN ADJUSTMENT BECAUSE IT IS UP TO YOU TO GET THE NEW INFORMATION INTO THE OFFICE BEFORE THE CLAIM IS PROCESSED.

 

     ONE SUGGESTION IS TO RE-ENROLL ALL OF YOUR CARE KIDS THE SAME MONTH SO YOU WILL NOT HAVE SO MANY DATES TO REMEMBER, OR MARK YOUR CALENDAR AHEAD OF TIME FOR THE YEAR AND CHECK EACH MONTH TO SEE WHO NEEDS NEW ENROLLMENTS IN FOR THAT MONTH. HOPE THIS HELPS!

 

     IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS PLEASE CALL – 216-252-0094 EX. 116 DIANA.

 

 

ARE CHILDREN NOT HAVING ENOUGH FUN?

 

In the September-October, 2002 issue of the Utne Reader (www.utne.com), Sophie Petite-Zerman explains how laughing can make us healthier and why children may not be laughing enough today:

 

“[Laughter is] undoubtedly the best medicine. For one thing, it’s exercise. It activates the cardiovascular system, so heart rate and blood pressure increase, then the arteries dilate, causing blood pressure to fall again.... Muscle tension decreases, and indeed we may temporarily lose control of our limbs, as in the expression ‘weak with laughter.’

 

“It may also release brain endorphins, reducing sensitivity to pain and boosting endurance and pleasurable sensations. Some studies suggest that laughter affects the immune system by reducing the production of hormones associated with stress, and that when you laugh, the immune system produces more T-cells....

“Laughter’s social role is definitely important. I’m very concerned that today’s children may be heading for a whole lot of social ills because their play and leisure time is so isolated, and they lose out on lots of chances for laughter.

 

“Staring at computer screens rather than laughing with each other is at odds with what’s natural for children. Natural social behavior in children is playful, and in such situations laughter indicates that make-believe aggression is fun, not for real. This is an important way in which children form positive bonds, gain new social skills, and generally start to move from childhood to adulthood. Parents need to be careful to ensure that their children play in groups, with both peers and adults and laugh.