One Last Wish

Make-A-Wish foundation is all about helping kids with life threatening diseases. The foundation started when a 7-year old boy named Chris Greicius was diagnosed with leukemia. From the beginning of his diagnosis, they knew he probably wasn’t going to make it. Chris had wanted to be a police officer, and Agent Tommy Austin was bound to make that happen. One day, Chris and his family were gifted with seeing a police motorcycle, helicopter, and a patrol car. Along with that, Chris even got a hat, a uniform, and his own badge. They even got Chris a small battery-operated motorcycle that he rode through cones to become an official Department of Public Safety officer. Four days after his dream came true, Chris passed away. Agent Tommy Austin says, “He was only seven years, 269 days old when he died. But he taught me about being a man. Even though he was only a boy. I can tell you that because of meeting Chris, I am an entirely different man.” Ron Cox said the same thing. He said he didn’t fear death anymore, because he knew Chris would be there waiting for him.

After going to Chris’s funeral, members of the community  began to hear what they had done for him. This is when they thought every kid should deserve this. That summer, a group of people came together and made it official, the Make-A-Wish foundation. By the following spring, they had made $2000 and were able to grant their first official wish. The first Wish kid, Frank Salazar, had three wishes. He wanted to be a fireman, go to Disneyland, and ride in a hot-air balloon. With the help of the organization, all of Frank’s wishes came true. The day he came back home, he was sent to the hospital, where he passed away later that night.

Currently, in 2016, more than 270,000 children in the US have had their wishes granted. Make-A-Wish even has a fundraising lacrosse team here in CT. Each player on the team has a goal to raise $500, which all goes to help kids experience one last great thing. In my opinion, Make-A-Wish is a fantastic organization and it helps so many kids get that one last chance to do something remarkable. If make-A-Wish wasn’t a foundation, then so many kids wouldn’t be able to have their dreams come true. When kids are on their trip, it helps them forget that they have a life-threatening illness. I believe that everyone should live life to the fullest, and Make-A-Wish gives kids that option.

~Kaylee

Sand Pits not Glitz

Child beauty pageants are defined as contests featuring children under the age of 16 that make them think they are all princesses and that they can have anything they want, including the winning position in every situation in their lives. Some different segments of child beauty pageants can include the skimpy bathing suit portion, the choreographed dance section that took 10 hours and 20 tantrums to master, reciting the interview answers that parents hardwired into their children’s brains, parading around in dresses bedazzled to an unnecessary level, and many other fun events. Although most of these children would rather be playing in their backyard or interacting with their peers in a healthy way, their parents drag them to these events so that they can experience what they would have liked to do 30 years ago through their children. These sweet 5-year-olds are turned into competitive demons by their parents. These pageants focus way too much on appearance, making for a very tedious regimen the weeks leading up to the pageant. Glitz pageants are the worst kind, allowing spray tans, flippers (fake teeth), and cellulite cream. These children are forced to compete in these competitions. making tantrums a recurring routine. The contestants are usually introduced to the game as toddlers or even earlier, and not knowing any better, continue to comply as they grow older. Beauty pageants for children were a horrible idea.

One reason why beauty pageants are horrible is because of the focus on appearance the competitions generate. The point of the competition is to be the most beautiful barbie doll there, an attribute that is definitely not necessary in life. Academics surely fall behind when a child participates in these provocative events. Hours every day are devoted to learning 5 minute routines during time that should be for homework. No studies have been conducted, but watch an episode of TLC’s Toddlers in Tiaras and you will find it obvious how devoted some of these people are to this pointless competition.

These beauty pageants can also lower self esteem in children that carries on into their teen and adult years. “The Princess Syndrome” is an unofficial term to describe the effects of beauty pageants on children. Unrealistic expectations to be thin, physically beautiful, and perfect are the effects that mothers and judges enforce on contestants. Some disordered eating behaviors and body dissatisfaction can be caused solely by this. A small study published in 2005 showed that former childhood beauty pageant contestants had higher rates of body dissatisfaction than normal children.

We all played with Barbie dolls as kids, and we all probably knew the Barbie song. “I’m a Barbie girl, in the Barbie world, Life is plastic, it’s fantastic!” For pageant girls, life is probably mostly plastic. Fake teeth, fake hair, fake tan, and fake nails are only a few of the “improvements” that are made on children. Many kids do not want to get a complete makeover including botox injections, but the parents are very excited to subject their child to this much pain and discomfort. Toddlers in Tiaras highlights these moments of pain during the process of getting ready, as seen in this picture.

In the article “Toddlers, Tiaras — and Debts: the Costs of Child Beauty Pageants”, Erica Sandberg says that costs for glitz pageants can range from $400 to $3,000+. This price range is so large because some pageant parents are crazy and go for $800 dresses and $100/hr dance instructors, while others stay simple. No matter how complicated the routine before a pageant is, kids don’t enjoy it.

Pageant parents shove their dreams down their children’s throats at a young age. The competitors don’t know that it doesn’t have to be this way because this all they know. They may even learn to love it. This ensures that bribery will not have to be used to make sure the kids comply. The smarter ones have tantrums as a last protest to this inhumane act. Parents discipline with bribery, which teaches children that there is a reward for bad behavior.

What ever happened to catching frogs? Robinson Crusoe? Scuffed knees? Stains from a grape popsicle from the ice cream man? I know that when I have a kid, I would rather have to clean the dirt out from under her fingernails then peel off artificial nails.

~Grace

 

Surviving the Torture, She called LOVE!

The book “A Child Called It” by Dave Pelzer describes to the reader the torture he endured every day by his mother. Before Dave was tortured daily, he had a relatively happy  normal life. He would play outside with his brothers, eat meals with his family, and was able to just enjoy being a kid.  His mother developed a very bad drinking problem to help her to deal with stress.  She soon became an alcoholic. His mother treated Dave like her personal slave and made him do specific chores the other children did not have to do. He had to complete them in certain time limits or she would torture Dave with different “games” that she thought up. If Dave did not finish the chores in the time limit  she would take away food. His mother starved him for weeks. Daves starvation led to him stealing food from others at school, begging for food from strangers and even stealing from the supermarket! His mother became so upset with him stealing food, that she tortured him. Some of the torture he was forced to endure was being locked in the bathroom with an ammonia and clorox mixture, made to drink ammonia, sleep in the cold garage, put his hands on the stove and burned them, and she even stabbed him!  Dave did everything he could do to please her but nothing worked and she was never satisfied. Going to school for Dave was an escape from all the torture he had at home. When one day when he arrived at school,  Dave was called to the nurses office. She  questioned him on his bruises. He reluctantly told them that his mother  had beat him. Soon a police officer was brought to the school to take him to a safe place so that his mother could no longer get to him. Dave was finally saved from all the torture by some loving and caring adults.

The book made me wonder what it was like being tortured by someone who was supposed to be the person to provide for and love you.  I could only imagine how hard it must have been for him to stay positive through the tough time he was having with his mother and why he didn’t tell anyone that he was being beaten and tortured?  I couldn’t  believe that his mother came up with such torturous “games” to try to make his life as miserable as it was. After reading this book it made me reflect about what the authors message in the story was. I believe that what he was trying to convey is that, you can overcome any obstacles in your life. Even in the worst and darkest days, Dave overcame his mothers “games”. I often still wonder why Dave’s mother allowed her personal stresses of life allow her to  treat her son the way she did by torturing him relentlessly on a daily basis for so many years.

~Bri

Taking Away the Lives of Innocent Children and Adults

 

What would you say about an elementary school shooting where 20 kids and 6 adults lost their lives? Most people would say, “That would never happen!” or “Who would even do such  a thing?” Well, unfortunately on December 14th, 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School, this is exactly what happened. Adam Lanza, 20 years old, broke into the school and opened fire. Within minutes he looked into the eyes of beautiful, innocent first graders and took away their lives. Teachers, like Victoria Soto who hid her kids in the closet and told the gunman they were in the gym, was also killed during this tragedy.

 
My main question about this shooting is, how could you look into the eyes of first graders and still be able to pull the trigger? And I think many people are wondering the same thing. These kids were so innocent, way too young for their lives to be over. Thinking about how the parents must’ve felt makes me sick. It was just like any other day in the morning, they gave their kids a hug and a kiss and sent them off to school where they thought they would be safe. Then about an hour later, they get a call saying there was a shooting at their child’s school. Hearing those words would make ANY parent sick to their stomach. Seeing their kid walk out of the school, probably was the happiest moment of their life. But then you think of the parents whose kids never returned. That was the last hug, the last kiss that they gave to their daughter or son. Words cannot describe how horrible I feel for these families and how I think this should never happen again.

~Allison Leonetti

Babysitters Guide…

To be a good babysitter you have to be experienced, good with children, and always put safety first. Babysitting may look easy, but it really isn’t  I enjoy babysitting because I like children. The parents usually talk to you before they hand their kids over to you, and they tell you some rules. ALWAYS follow those rules! If a child ever does something wrong, you should put them in a time out for 5 to 10 minutes, usually after that, they won’t want to mess around again.

Before you go to a house to babysit, you should think of some games you can play with the kids, that way the kids will be distracted and they’ll have fun. You also should bring over a snack for yourself just in case you get hungry, you don’t want to be sneaking food from their cabinets! You should read the children stories before they go to bed, it makes them fall asleep faster. After they go to bed, you can help out by cleaning up or doing the dishes. This way the parents will want you to come back, and maybe you’ll get a little more money. If you follow these few tips I’m sure you will be a great babysitter.

~Julie Roche

Important to Him Important to Me


Something very important to me is my dad’s old teddy bear. When I was six years old my dad gave me his teddy bear to keep as my own. He had it since he was a baby which makes it over 40 years old! His teddy bear’s name is Teddy. Teddyis an orangish brown bear with a faded red tie (so faded now thats it a light pink almost white). You can tell that he has been loved for many years, by the worn away fur, the stitched up holes and the loose eyes.  I will love the teddy bear as much as my dad does.

I will keep the teddy bear and give it to my child when the time comes, and hopefully my child will give it to theirs and so on.  This bear means a lot to me. It has helped me mentally when I was sick, and sad and sometimes when I was mad. He has been a friend when I thought I didn’t have any, he listens without judging, and he holds my deepest secrets. I will never forget the day my dad gave me his best friend. I can see what my dad saw in this bear and I will cherish the bear for a long time.Will he always be there? Will I take him to college?Will he be next to me when I’m married? Or will he be stored away in the attic for safe keeping until the time comes for him to become someone else’s best friend? Only time will tell. For now he’s got a job to do; be with me.

~ Zachary Warner

What’s the point?!?

http://collegecandy.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/empty-classroom.gif

Waking up in the morning. Rushing to catch the bus. Staying up until 3 a.m. doing homework. Freaking out about a test. All for what? School. A recent study by the Associated Press and MTV found 85% of students from the age 13-24 experience large amounts of stress daily. This is a full 10 percentage points higher than adults polled in a earlier study. That is crazy. All the adults always say, “Oh, you’re lucky you have it easy,” or “I remember the old easy days.”
In my opinion, children should be saying that to the adults after seeing results like these. All adults do is get paid to go sit on computers, tell students what to do, and socialize with their friends. Children don’t even get paid to go to school we have to go there by law.

What is the point of school anyways? In Social Studies all we learn about is dead people and the happenings of the world 1,000 years ago. We have Wikipedia and Google for that. In Math we have to write every single equation out. Are you joking? They created calculators to do the work for us and then we write the answer down, not what we just typed into a calculator. In Language Arts…we speak English and people understand us, what else do we need? One word for Spanish…Dora. Don’t even get me started about Science. Anyone can put a key on a kite during a thunderstorm, you don’t have to be a brilliant scientist. Oh my gosh, how do they even go out into public with hair like that? I would be humiliated! In conclusion, the government is putting a lot of extra stress on children that should be out enjoying their “easy” years and worry about things when they are older.

~Vivian Bronson

Project KONY 2012

We as Americans, are so lucky to live in such a wonderful and free country.  Many people take the things that we have for granted, and don’t think about what else is happening throughout the world.  Something is happening in this world in a small country in Africa called Uganda, and it is terrible.  A man named Joseph Kony is going around and kidnapping kids, giving them guns, and is forcing them to kill people and become part of his personal army of children called the Lords Resistance Army (LRA).  Many innocent children are being abducted from their homes and forced into this army.  A call throughout the world has came from this country for help against this terrible warlord.  People everywhere are starting to spread the awareness about Project Kony 2012, the year that we finally catch this criminal.  Many celebrities are spreading the message about this movement and tons of communities are taking part in this action.  We are trying to convince the U.S. government to keep American soldiers in Uganda to help Ugandan soldiers find the hiding criminal and free all those innocent kids.

I think that Project Kony 2012 is a great thing that this country can do to help out another country when they are in need.  There are innocent children out there being taken from their homes and being forced to kill other people.  Obviously, that doesn’t happen in America, but if it did and the government couldn’t help out too much, wouldn’t you want other countries to help support us and find this bloodthirsty maniac?  That is the reason why everyone is spreading the word.  The more the word is spread, the more we can help these kids.  Everyone should come together, and help to take down this criminal once and for all.

~Nick Sansone