National Child Abuse Prevention Month

National Child Abuse Prevention Month . April was first declared Child Abuse Prevention Month by presidential proclamation in 1983. Since then, April has been a time to acknowledge the importance of families and communities working together to prevent child abuse.

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MICKEY MOUSE BIRTHDAY

“I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing – that it was all started by a mouse.”

—Walt Disney, Disneyland; October 27, 1954

Mickey Mouse is a funny animal cartoon character and the official mascot of The Walt Disney Company. He was created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at the Walt Disney Studios in 1928. An anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves, Mickey has become one of the most recognizable cartoon characters in the world.

Mickey first was seen in a single test screening (Plane Crazy). Mickey officially debuted in the short film Steamboat Willie (1928), one of the first sound cartoons. He went on to appear in over 130 films, including The Band Concert (1935), Brave Little Tailor (1938), and Fantasia (1940). Mickey appeared primarily in short films, but also occasionally in feature-length films. Ten of Mickey’s cartoons were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, one of which, Lend a Paw, won the award in 1942. In 1978, Mickey became the first cartoon character to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Beginning in 1930, Mickey has also been featured extensively as a comic strip character. His self-titled newspaper strip, drawn primarily by Floyd Gottfredson, ran for 45 years. Mickey has also appeared in comic books and in television series such as The Mickey Mouse Club (1955–1996) and others. He also appears in other media such as video games as well as merchandising, and is a meetable character at the Disney parks.

Mickey generally appears alongside his girlfriend Minnie Mouse, his pet dog Pluto, his friends Donald Duck, and Goofy, and his nemesis Pete, among others. Originally characterized as a mischievous antihero, Mickey’s increasing popularity led to his being rebranded as an everyman, usually seen as a flawed, but adventurous hero. In 2009, Disney began to re-brand the character again by putting less emphasis on his pleasant, cheerful side and reintroducing the more mischievous and adventurous sides of his personality, beginning with the video game Epic Mickey.
Origin

Concept art of Mickey from early 1928; the sketches are the earliest known drawings of the character, from the collection of The Walt Disney Family Museum.
“I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing – that it was all started by a mouse.”

—Walt Disney, Disneyland; October 27, 1954
Mickey Mouse was created as a replacement for Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, an earlier cartoon character created by the Disney studio for Charles Mintz, a film producer who distributed product through Universal Studios.[4] In the spring of 1928, with the series going strong, Disney asked Mintz for an increase in the budget. But Mintz instead demanded that Walt take a 20 percent budget cut, and as leverage, he reminded Disney that Universal owned the character, and revealed that he had already signed most of Disney’s current employees to his new contract. Angrily, Disney refused the deal and returned to produce the final Oswald cartoons he contractually owed Mintz. Disney was dismayed at the betrayal by his staff, but determined to restart from scratch. The new Disney Studio initially consisted of animator Ub Iwerks and a loyal apprentice artist, Les Clark, who together with Wilfred Jackson were among the few who remained loyal to Walt. One lesson Disney learned from the experience was to thereafter always make sure that he owned all rights to the characters produced by his company.

Origin

In the spring of 1928, Disney asked Ub Iwerks to start drawing up new character ideas. Iwerks tried sketches of various animals, such as dogs and cats, but none of these appealed to Disney. A female cow and male horse were also rejected. They would later turn up as Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horsecollar. (A male frog, also rejected, would later show up in Iwerks’ own Flip the Frog series.)  Walt Disney got the inspiration for Mickey Mouse from a tame mouse at his desk at Laugh-O-Gram Studio in Kansas City, Missouri.  In 1925, Hugh Harman drew some sketches of mice around a photograph of Walt Disney. These inspired Ub Iwerks to create a new mouse character for Disney.  “Mortimer Mouse” had been Disney’s original name for the character before his wife, Lillian, convinced him to change it, and ultimately Mickey Mouse came to be.  The actor Mickey Rooney claimed that, during his Mickey McGuire days, he met cartoonist Walt Disney at the Warner Brothers studio, and that Disney was inspired to name Mickey Mouse after him.  This claim however has been debunked by Disney historian Jim Korkis, since at the time of Mickey Mouse’s development, Disney Studios had been located on Hyperion Avenue for several years, and Walt Disney never kept an office or other working space at Warner Brothers, having no professional relationship with Warner Brothers, as the Alice Comedies and Oswald cartoons were distributed by Universal.

The article provided by Wikipedia – find more information about Mickey Mouse by going to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_Mouse

August is Children’s Eye Health and Safety Month

With a large number of states beginning the school year earlier, August is the new September! Along with school supply shopping and purchasing those back-to-school clothing items, it’s time to make comprehensive eye exam appointments for the kids. Conveniently, August is designated as Children’s Eye Health and Safety Month!

A good rule of thumb is to have your children’s eyes examined during well-child visits, beginning around age three. Your child’s eye doctor can help detect refractive errors such as nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism as well as the following diseases:
Amblyopia (lazy eye)
Strabismus (crossed eyes)
Ptosis (drooping of the eyelid)
Color deficiency (color blindness)

If you or your doctor suspects that your child may have a vision problem, you can make an appointment with your local ophthalmologist for further testing. There are some specific warning signs that may indicate that your child has a vision problem. Some of these include:
Wandering or crossed eyes
A family history of childhood vision problems
Disinterest in reading or viewing distant objects
Squinting or turning the head in an unusual manner while watching television

Keeping your children’s eyes safe is another part of maintaining healthy vision. Eye injuries are the leading cause of vision loss in children. There are about 42,000 sports-related eye injuries every year in America, and children suffer most of these injuries. Help prevent your child from being one of the more than 12 million children who suffer from vision impairment by remembering a few basic rules of safety:
All children should wear protective eyewear while participating in sports or recreational activities

Purchase age-appropriate toys for your children and avoid toys with sharp or protruding parts (Source: HAP).

Help your children have a successful school year by scheduling a comprehensive eye exam and taking safety measures to ensure their eyes are free from injury. If you need assistance finding a licensed eye care specialist in your area, click here.
 

A-U-T-I-S-M

The aim of this month is educate the public about autism. Autism is a complex mental condition and developmental disability, characterized by difficulties in the way a person communicates and interacts with other people. Autism can be present from birth or form during early childhood (typically within the first three years). Autism is a lifelong developmental disability with no single known cause.
A – Always

U – Unique

T – Totally

I – Interesting

S – Sometimes

M – Mysterious

Autism Awareness

The aim of this month is educate the public about autism. Autism is a complex mental condition and developmental disability, characterized by difficulties in the way a person communicates and interacts with other people. Autism can be be present from birth or form during early childhood (typically within the first three years). Autism is a lifelong developmental disability with no single known cause.
People with autism are classed as having Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and the terms autism and ASD are often used interchangeably. A wide spectrum disorder, people will autism have set of symptoms unique to themselves; no two people are the same.

Increasing Awareness About The Common Characteristics Of Autism

Whilst no two people with autism will have the same set of symptoms, there are common characteristics found in those with this complex disability. Briefly, these characteristics include:

Social Skills � people with autism have problems interacting with others; autistic children do not have adequate playing and talking skills. Mild symptoms on one end of the spectrum may be displayed through clumsy behavior, being out of sync with those around them and inappropriate or offensive comments being made. At the other end of the spectrum an autistic person may not be interested in others.

Empathy � empathy is the ability to recognize and understand the feelings of another person. People with autism find it harder to show empathy to others although they can be taught to acknowledge the others feelings.

Physical Contact � in some cases, autistic people do not like physical contact such as hugs, tickling or physical play with others.

Sudden Changes To Their Environment � a sudden change in the surrounding environment may affect a person with autism. The could be a loud noise, a change in intensity of lighting or even a change in smell.

Speech � speech can be affected in people with autism. ‘Echolalia’ is a typical speech symptom in which the person repeats words and phrases that they hear. The speech tone of an autistic person may be monotonous. Where symptoms are more extreme the person may not speak.

Changes To Behavior and Routine � people with autism often display repetitive behavior in which they repeat the same action many times over. For example, a person with autism may repeatedly pace around a room in a certain direction. Any change to their behavior or routine can be unsettling for them. This could be a reordering of daily activities such as when a person brushes their teeth, takes a shower and has breakfast when they get up in the morning.

Halloween Safety a MUST!

You Are Unique!!!!

Labor Day 2016

Year	Date	Day	Holiday	State
2016	5 Sep	Mon	Labor Day	National
2017	4 Sep	Mon	Labor Day	National

 

Labor Day is observed in the U.S. on every first Monday in September as a day to recognize the contributions of American workers of all industries to the U.S. economy. It is also meant to give workers a well-earned day off to relax at home or to get out for recreation.

Year	Date	Day	Holiday	State
2016	5 Sep	Mon	Labor Day	National
2017	4 Sep	Mon	Labor Day	National

To many, Labor Day marks the end of the summer season, even as Memorial Day marks its beginning. Many see Labor Day as their last chance to get out and take a vacation before summer is gone, and many workers get a two-week annual vacation period with Labor Day Weekend right in the middle of the two weeks off.

Most U.S. schools restart classes, after the long summer break, about a week before Labor Day. Others schools, however, resume classes on the day after Labor Day, thus allowing families to get in their last taste of summer before the school year gets underway.

 While Canada also celebrates Labour Day at the same time as in the U.S., though spelling it differently to keep faith with the UK, many other countries have their own equivalent of Labor Day. May Day (on May 1st), for example, is observed by over 80 nations to give workers a much-needed day off, and there are also other countries with yet other dates for their version of Labor Day.

The first U.S. Labor Day celebrations took place in New York City in 1882 at the behest of local labor unions, who wanted to put the fruits of their industries on public display. In 1887, Oregon instituted a state-level Labor Day holiday, and 29 other states followed suit before Labor Day finally became a federal holiday in 1894.

The original Labor Day celebrations consisted of street parades displaying the contributions of laborers in various industries followed by local festivals or other amusements. Over time, it became a time for giving speeches on labor-related topics, which is still occasionally done today.

Besides recognition of labor and general entertainment, another reason Labor Day was instituted was to provide a public holiday in the long, “holiday-free” span between the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving. This gap-filler strategy, combined with its “strategic position” at the end of the summer season, has made Labor Day a much-appreciated break for many U.S. workers.

Although there are still a few parades and some fireworks displays on Labor Day Weekend, it is not a big time for “official events.” Mostly, it is the beginning of the football season, a time for picnics and barbecues, and a time to go on vacation to the beach, national parks, or elsewhere.

Some activities that many enjoy taking part in on Labor Day and Labor Day Weekend in the U.S. include:

• Watch on TV or attend in person various sporting events. The NCAA plays its first college football games on Labor Day Weekend, and the NFL usually has a kick-off game on the following Thursday. Racing is also big on Labor Day, as both NASCAR and NHRA drag race events take place.
• Go shopping while Labor Day sales and discounts are up and running at numerous malls and retail outlets all across the nation. For some businesses, Labor Day is their biggest sales event next to Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. There is a focus on back to school sales, but sale items are not at all limited strictly to pencils, backpacks, and calculators.
• Go on vacation, like so many Americans do during Labor Day Weekend every single year. Some of the most popular destinations include: Las Vegas, the “party city” of the Nevadan desert that is within easy striking distance of Grand Canyon; Chicago, for its famous fireworks event off of Navy Pier; and Miami, for its unbeatable beach and the nearby Bill Baggs Cape state park.
• Go to New York City for the biggest Labor Day party in the country, the West Indian American Day Carnival. The carnival brings two million visitors to Brooklyn each year. It lasts for seven hours straight and includes a costumed parade down Eastern Parkway and numerous street vendors selling authentic West Indian (and New York City) cuisine. You will also notice some dressed up as familiar political figures or movie stars who go about throwing paint powder at each other just for fun. You may not want to don an outfit and join in the paint-slinging, but it is still fun to watch.
• In a more relaxed moment, you may wish to hunt up the many Labor Day speeches given by politicians, big businessmen, educationalists, religious leaders, and others. They are to be found on TV and radio, in newspapers, and of course, on the Internet. This will give you a good sense of what Labor Day means to many Americans today.

If traveling on Labor Day Weekend, you should plan well in advance. Both airports and roadways will be busy as many make their way to and from their annual vacations, and public transportation often operates on a reduced schedule.

 

Know the Warning Signs of Suicide Today

Know the Warning Signs of Suicide

How do you remember the Warning Signs of Suicide? Here’s an easy-to-remember mnemonic: IS PATH WARM? I  Ideation S  Substance Abuse P Purposelessness A  Anxiety T  Trapped H  Hopelessness W  Withdrawal A  Anger R  Recklessness M  Mood Changes A person in acute risk for suicidal behavior most often will show: Warning Signs of Acute Risk: Threatening to hurt or kill him or herself, or talking of wanting to hurt or kill him/herself; and or, Looking for ways to kill him/herself by seeking access to firearms, available pills, or other means; and/or, Talking or writing about death, dying or suicide, when these actions are out of the ordinary. These might be remembered as expressed or communicated ideation.  If observed, seek help as soon as possible by contacting a mental health professional or calling 1-800-273-TALK (8255) for a referral. Expanded Warning Signs: Increased substance (alcohol or drug) use No reason for living; no sense of purpose in life Anxiety, agitation, unable to sleep or sleeping all of the time Feeling trapped – like there’s no way out Hopelessness Withdrawal from friends, family and society Rage, uncontrolled anger, seeking revenge Acting reckless or engaging in risky activities, seemingly without thinking Dramatic mood changes If observed, seek help as soon as possible by contacting a mental health professional or calling 1-800-273-TALK (8255) for a referral. These warning signs were compiled by a task force of expert clinical-researchers and ‘translated’ for the general public.  The origin of IS PATH WARM? To learn more about youth suicide, risk factors, and how to help, click here.

HAVE THIS CONVERSATION BEFORE YOU SEND YOUR BABY BACK TO SCHOOL

Brave is a Decision Originally published August 28, 2011

Hey Baby.

Tomorrow is a big day. Third Grade – wow.

Chase – When I was in third grade, there was a little boy in my class named Adam.

Adam looked a little different and he wore funny clothes and sometimes he even smelled a little bit. Adam didn’t smile. He hung his head low and he never looked at anyone at all. Adam never did his homework. I don’t think his parents reminded him like yours do. The other kids teased Adam a lot. Whenever they did, his head hung lower and lower and lower. I never teased him, but I never told the other kids to stop, either.

And I never talked to Adam, not once. I never invited him to sit next to me at lunch, or to play with me at recess. Instead, he sat and played by himself. He must have been very lonely.

I still think about Adam every day. I wonder if Adam remembers me? Probably not. I bet if I’d asked him to play, just once, he’d still remember me.

I think that God puts people in our lives as gifts to us. The children in your class this year, they are some of God’s gifts to you.

So please treat each one like a gift from God. Every single one.

Baby, if you see a child being left out, or hurt, or teased, a little part of your heart will hurt a little. Your daddy and I want you to trust that heart- ache. Your whole life, we want you to notice and trust your heart-ache. That heart ache is called compassion, and it is God’s signal to you to do something. It is God saying, Chase! Wake up! One of my babies is hurting! Do something to help! Whenever you feel compassion – be thrilled! It means God is speaking to you, and that is magic. It means He trusts you and needs you.