Child Abuse Advertisement: Response to Reagan Parrish's blog post

Child abuse happens much more often than the average person imagines that it does. I think this new type of advertisement with a hidden picture is a genius way to reach out to scared children in secret, and let them know that there is a way to receive help. The reason this type of advertising works is the fact that it is in secret even in a public place. Most of the time the adult that is abusing the child would be with them in a public setting, and no one would even know that the child was being abused by them. It could potentially be dangerous for the abuser to see the same advertisement for help against abuse that the child does. Although some of these aspects of the advertisement are positive for the child, there are always negative sides to any new idea. Toy companies, for example, will catch on to this new way of advertising to target children. They do that anyway, but this is much different because the parent can't see what the child is looking at. If I were a parent, it would make me feel very uneasy about not being able to physically see what my child was looking at. But toy companies would most likely use this type of advertisement to add imagination and color to a normal picture. I don't necessarily think it would all be bad or negative advertising. Some of the advertising can be inspiring for children. The positive aspects outweigh the negative aspects of this type of advertising.

Bless You

For this blog post, head to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MY0QBfqPCe8 and watch the video about a highschooler in Tennessee that was suspended from school because she said "bless you" to a student who sneezed in class. If your birthday is January-July, you will be defending the student. And if your birthday is August-December, you will defend the teacher.

Assignment: 200 words

The Greatest Compliment

My parents have raised me to be a responsible person and to know how my actions can affect people around me. They have taught me how to love Jesus with all my heart and show people that particular love through my actions and words. For a long time, I thought no one even noticed me or anything I did. Because of my family's position in our church, people are constantly watching me. And as a child, I didn't realize so many people's eyes were on me. I could easily ruin my family's reputation and with that the church's also. That is a lot of pressure to put on a child or even a teen. Even though I had been told over and over how important my actions were, I never really understood until I had experienced it through creating friendships. I moved a lot when I was young, and because of those experiences, I learned how precious friendships can be and also how much loneliness can hurt. My new friends started leaving people out, and I hated that because I knew how it felt. So I decided to try to be friends with everyone. But with that group of kids, you were either in or out. I decided to become friends with the kids that didn't have friends. I remember one year my friends and I were at a sleep over, and the mom told me to remind everyone to brush their teeth before bed. I asked her why me, and she said because she noticed how responsible I was. I remember how good it made me feel that I was doing something right. Years later that same mom told me that my friend really looked up to me, and she is so thankful I became her friend. She said to me, " I want her to want to serve at church like you do. You make a huge impact on people's lives everywhere you go. You make people want to strive to be the best person they can be. And I'm thankful you are a loyal friend to my daughter because you were just what she needed when you two became friends." That hit me really hard. I had never received such a compliment. And it gave me confidence to keep doing what ever I was doing even though it could be extremely difficult and lonely sometimes, but it makes a difference in the lives of people around me. And that's all that matters.

Digital Memories

Growing up I always remember my dad with a video camera taking in every moment of birthday parties, Christmases, family vacations at the beach, and special performances. Our family didn't document our lives everyday. We only recorded the special moments that we appreciate looking back on. Several times my family has had a "home movie night" where we pull out all the old VHS's and watch our little faces light up in a game of peek-a-boo or show off our famous dance moves at Grandmother's house. And together as we laugh and cry, we are reminded how precious family is.  
One of my favorite things to do is clean my room, which is a really odd thing for me to say since I am actually quite messy and lazy. But I like to think of this "cleaning" more as exploring. After one of these adventures, my room usually ends up messier than it was in the first place, but I am usually left much happier. As I fish through my room, I always find little items that would seem worthless to anyone else but me. I personally treasure the little tokens because once I hold it or look at it, the memory comes flooding back. I get the same feeling when looking at old pictures and remembering each story behind them, but I find taking an abundance of selfies is pointless. I literally see myself everyday. I'm not someone who constantly takes pictures of every detail of my life, but I do like to take pictures of the big moments so I will remember them. I have found over the past few years that I remember the moment more vividly when I'm not focused on the memory through a screen, so I take less photos so I can remember it in my brain instead of on my phone. The majority of my pictures consist of big trips, my sister and my dog.

I take a lot of pictures of trips because I ultimately want to remember the trip, but I don't spend all my time taking pictures. Some of my favorite pictures to look back at are taken at the beach because everyone looks so tan and I look like a flaming tomato. But everyone is always so happy and having fun in my family. I also really enjoy my pictures of the little kids on mission trips that I have gotten to share Jesus with and have an impact on their lives. Those are really important to me because I might never see them in person again, but I can actually look at their face while I pray for them.
I keep most of the pictures of my sister because I don't get to see her everyday because she is away at college. She is my best friend and my role model, so I love taking pictures with her. We also enjoy recording videos of us singing together because sister's voices blend perfectly to create beautiful music. I also have a bunch of pictures of my Golden Retriever, Sadie. I have appreciated those photos more than ever because she is living with my aunt in another city, so I rarely get to see her. Overall I don't take pictures of stuff I see everyday, so instead I only keep photos that carry importance and special memories that bring back happiness.  

 

Introducing Death

     Introducing death to children can be a burdensome endeavor because most parents never want to see their children sad over something they themselves can not control. As difficult a task that it is, it's necessary because kids will eventually encounter it. I support Nicholas and his family from Ohio because his project could be a teachable moment for other children and it came from his heart. 
     The school's reasoning for not accepting the project was that it was not something his classmates were old enough to learn about. Principal, Cherie Kaiser said, "given the age of the children in the class, we do not believe the subject of the photograph was appropriate." But in reality children need to be introduced to death even though it can be sad and scary. Children in church are exposed to the brutal crucifixion of Jesus at very young ages. Because of His death many of my friends and I all became Christian's when we were Nicholas' age because we understood why He died. Even though children seem so fragile, they are much stronger and smarter than we think.
     Old Brooklyn Constellation Elementary didn't think their students could handle seeing death, but Dr. Hall, a psychologist, said in regard to Nicholas' project, "while there's not a right or wrong way to introduce death to children, this can be a teachable moment." He agrees that the school is wrong to not allow Nicholas to share his love for his brother with the class. The project assigned was to have students tell about some of their favorite things. Noah, Nicholas' brother, was very important to him and his family. His mom told reporters,"We deal with it every day, one day at a time. It's been extremely difficult." They kept his nursery the same and hang pictures of him in the house so they can always remember him. Their story definitely pulls at the heart strings, but it makes you loose hope in the school system. Nicholas has been through a traumatic experience, and shouldn't be punished for wanting to share his story with his class mates.