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A spelling bee contest in Canada sounds like a lot of fun, doesn’t it? While we may have watched them in American TV shows, they do in fact happen across Canada, and Canadian kids attend these spelling competitions in the U.S. In case you didn’t know, Canada’s ‘big’ spelling bee competition is run by the 30-year-old, Toronto-based non-profit, Spelling Bee of Canada (and it has regional competitions too).

So what makes spelling bees fun in any country? Kids get to show off their ability to memorize the spelling of words, and achieve status at the end. Parents are proud, and popularity is won! Or is it that appealing? Some may argue that there are cons to spelling bee contests, just as there are pros. In this two-part article, we’ll debate the question of whether children should join a spelling bee contest.

The pros of Canadian kids joining a spelling bee competition

Of course, Canada bears two official languages: English and French (in addition to some unofficial First Nations languages, which we should also credit). We’ll be covering English spelling bees here.

They encourage vocabulary development in a language that demands memorization

English is a tough language. Vocabulary development takes practice, and memorization techniques.

See related: 4 interesting ways to encourage vocabulary development in young minds

English is not as orderly or sensical as other languages. It’s a mish-mash of words from different languages, and with different spellings that evolved over many years. That article posits the ‘illogical language’ fact as a con to learning. However, one could also argue that events like spelling bees are conducive to making word-learning a fun, challenging activity.

They open doors to better literacy skills and language enjoyment

Education.com published an article praising spelling bee contests for their ability to do more than encourage dull, meaningless remembrance of words. To quote their adequate statement from a Merriam-Webster editor and spelling bee judge:

The way the children learn the words is…through etymology and learning roots, pronunciations, and multiple definitions….Once children learn to break down words, they can decipher meanings of related words…and become better readers and writers overall…with better reading comprehension, comes greater literacy, and greater enjoyment of reading, literature and language.”

Spelling bees help some kids develop confidence and character

When the CBC reported on a 2016 spelling bee contest in B.C., the parent of the winner noted, rather wisely, the reason he got his child involved. To quote the article’s interview,

It is not just about spelling, it is about character building,” said Jas Bhatia. “How to be patient, wait for their turn and if they spell it wrong to cheer for their friends.”

Another participant’s parent said,

Competition of this nature is positive because it lets them explore more avenues of themselves and shows the result of that commitment.”

In the lead up to the 2017 national spelling bee contest in Toronto, the CBC also reported on parents and participant’s attitudes towards the benefits of spelling bees. One child was entered into the game to overcome stage fright, and to be able to learn to interact with peers. It worked! Reflecting on an 1988 competition, a winner testified that the experience helped build her confidence.

Plus, at least where U.S. spelling competitions are concerned, the prizes can be extensive for winners. This can show kids the result of dedication to perfecting a skill, and the rewards that could result.

They are helping to break down race barriers for Indians and South Asians

This point may be one that some can argue around. But it is notable, and noted by multiple journalists, that winners of spelling bees lately are dominantly from India or South Asia (or have that heritage as Canadians and Americans). The aforementioned CBC article stated that 14 of the past 18 winners in America were Indian. This author even compared the Indians’ skill in spelling to that of running talents among Ethiopians and Kenyans. So, could this be a way to let the South Asian community shine?

There is another side to spelling bee competitions!

Our Canadian kids may not all be suited for spelling bee contests, and parents and teachers may disagree with their existence altogether. Stay tuned for our next article in this series, outlining some cons of spelling bee competitions.

With early intervention and an increase in awareness about autism spectrum disorder, many children are being diagnosed as babies or in their toddler years. Since autism is typically discovered in early childhood, many parents don’t expect to have to look for signs as their child ages. Yet, sometimes signs of autism can go undiagnosed until your child is older and begins to experience some noticeable signs as well as learning difficulties. Below are five signs that your teen may have autism.

Withdrawal from social situations

One of the difficulties that people with autism may find hard to overcome is the ability to read other people’s’ signals and emotions. This may cause them to find it difficult to fit in or adjust to what is expected of their age. Because of this, they may often avoid engaging with students their age for fear of being bullied or ridiculed. While teens may withdraw from peers for a variety of reasons, an avoidance of social interaction should be looked into.

More literal interpretations

Teens and adults with autism spectrum disorder are known to have trouble interpreting metaphorical speech, or ‘street talk.’ They can often take phrases literally. So, watch out if your Autistic teens has difficulty understanding sarcasm or idioms. This may be due to communication issues that stem from being more comfortable with structure and ‘exactness.’

Difficulty with complicated or multi-step directions

Teens with autism spectrum disorder may suffer from ADD or ADHD. They may have a hard time staying focused through longer, or multiple instructions. Typically focus can be held for two-step directions. But more than that may cause them to withdraw, or move onto something else.

Showing symptoms of mental health disorders

People with autism spectrum disorder have a higher rate of other psychiatric disorders. The most common psychiatric disorders associated with autism are anxiety, ADHD, depression, bipolar disorder, OCD, and schizophrenia. Teens with autism can be particularly affected by anxiety disorders, especially when they are in social settings.

Having difficulty with school curriculum

As teens enter into high school, curriculum tends to become more difficult. Teens with autism may begin to exhibit learning disabilities as the curriculum becomes more demanding. However, teens with higher functioning autism often have average, to above-average IQs.

If your teen is exhibiting signs of autism spectrum disorder, it is important to have them properly diagnosed. Intervention as early as possible is important to help your teen to be successful at school, as well as in their life outside of school.

In follow up to our article on ‘What is social competence in teens? Why is it important?’, we thought it would be important to delve into the practical matter of being able to teach social competence to teens. It’s one thing to know you need it, it’s another to learn how to get it.

If your child’s ability to make friends has become a concern, it may be wise not to ignore your ‘gut’ when it comes to teaching social skills, or encouraging them in your child.

In our last article on this topic (see link above), we mentioned that popularity may be related to higher levels of social competence. We also learned that the better social life a child or teen has, the more likely they are to form healthy relationships as adults, and avoid mental health issues they may be predisposed to.

So how do we balance out the extremes of social skills in teens? How do we ‘level the playing field,’ so that all kids have the chance to make friends and, eventually, become well-functioning citizens of society?

According to this extensive article, kids and teens need to be taught social competence. And it doesn’t stop there; they need to practice it, just like any other learned skill that becomes habit. (We realize the design of the aforementioned article looks questionable and abandoned, but its content seems worthy of note for consideration).

Below we will discuss some strategies for teaching social competence in teens.

Get kids involved in sports or games to promote social competence

According to this article, playing sports – you guessed it – builds good “sportsmanship.” It makes sense. In sports kids learn how to follow rules, how to be fair, and how to limit their actions to the rules of the game. They also learn how to work in teams, and how to respect opponents (or at least, we would hope that is the case with the coach in charge).

This can happen with other games too, especially when multiple players are involved. Board games, for instance, can help with this skill as well.

Many times, this may involve a parent engaging their child in extracurricular activities outside school.

Teach lessons on diversity in the classroom, or advocate for them at your local school

If your child’s classroom teacher is not doing so already, you can ask them to teach diversity. This is especially beneficial if differences are becoming a problem in the school’s social environment. Becoming accepting of those who are different than you is a skill in empathy, and a way to promote inclusion for better social experiences.

We wrote some articles all about this:

• 3 Ways to manage diversity in the classroom
• 5 great activities to teach kids about multiculturalism in the classroom

Read books and use educational material dedicated to the topic of social skills training in adolescents

Sometimes, social skills need to be taught very literally. What may seem obvious to some (like saying “please” and “thank you”), won’t be obvious to others. There are materials out there that you can use to teach social skills to adolescents. Here are some we found:

On teaching empathy:

https://www.edutopia.org/pdfs/blogs/edutopia-taran-lesson7empathy.pdf

http://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/quick-guide-teaching-empathy-classroom/

On helping kids form friendships:

https://www.education.com/reference/article/children-develop-social-competence/

Posters and classroom material (or consider making these yourself with the class):

Kids’ books on ‘Social Thinking:

https://www.socialthinking.com/Products

https://www.freespirit.com/gifted-and-special-education/survival-guide-for-kids-with-behavior-challenges-thomas-mcintyre/#

Group activities to promote social skills training (linked to above also):

http://www.behavioradvisor.com/SocialSkills.html (scroll to find these)

Plus you’ll also want to read up on the more research-based information on this topic, which is provided online by organizations such as this one:

http://www.casel.org/library-search/?type=Book

This will equip you, as the teacher, to know what you are aiming for, and when the desired outcomes are achieved.

Set a good example, by forming adult-like social competence

You may not enjoy hearing this, but if your child is suffering from a lack of social competence, it may have to do with what is happening in their home environment. The articles we’ve linked to in this article, and our former one on this topic, mention that aggression can be ‘learned’ from parents. How a child is raised can affect their behaviour.

And, it also appears that less-strict parents may produce kids with more social competence. However, as this article points out, balance is needed with any parenting, and social context could make a difference in outcomes.

Seek professional help for social skills training

If your child or teen is showing signs of problematic behaviour, it may be wise to consult a professional, as we mentioned in our last article on social competence. There are family therapists, for instance, who can help with individual children, parenting advice or otherwise. A doctor may also be able to help you assess potential neurodiverse conditions that could explain outlandish, unexpected and impulsive behaviours.

Don’t give up on social competence training!

Remember that learning social queues comes with time. You may realize that even as an adult, you are still learning about behaviours that were probably a mistake, and that you won’t want to repeat in your future relationships. Kids and teens are learning too. They are forming identities and realizing who they are. So, if your teen hasn’t transformed their personality overnight, remember that this may be a slow process. It may take some life lessons to fully form a mature adult out of them.

That said, don’t give up on the resources and tools you can use to teach these skills early in life. You may save your child a lot of frustrations by helping them learn from your wisdom!

From the ‘90s and 2000s we remember the ‘just say no’ campaigns against drugs. Whether they worked or not, at that time, addiction was a fear, and rightly so; drugs could ruin promising lives.

Today, however, we’re dealing with a more serious issue, layering on top of our fears of addiction. Fentanyl is being found in modern forms of common street drugs like heroin and cocaine because it’s cheap to synthesize. It’s also deceiving people into thinking it’s a less harmful choice because it’s sold as a prescription drug and used in ‘real’ medicine.

But fentanyl is 50-100 times more lethal than other drugs. It’s killing our ‘good kid’ teens. Deaths are happening in a single dose. This article on PBS.org shows a side-by-side picture of the lethal doses of heroin and fentanyl. A picture is worth a thousand words, and you’ll certainly get that idea when seeing the comparison visually. Deadly fentanyl almost looks like a few grains of salt.

Messages against drugs today are not just about surviving addiction or suffering brain damage: they’re about whether or not your ‘experimenting’ kid is going to die tonight.

Fentanyl overdoses are happening to teens we wouldn’t expect them to happen to

The scary thing is that these overdoses are happening to the teens we least suspect them to be happening to. Whether you think your kids are at risk or not, it’s important your entire family knows this information. Don’t think the headlines about our opioid crises don’t apply to your ‘good kid.’

Remember: fentanyl is taking one dose to kill. Just one. That’s one bad decision, or one ‘trick’ that a teen is taking something else, when in fact it’s laced with deadly fentanyl.

Fentanyl teen overdose stories in the news are real, and telling of an opioid crisis among our kids

If we sound strong, we hope to be. Type the words, “fentanyl teens” into Google and you’ll get no shortage of news stories telling the tale that is now becoming common: ‘teen dies of fentanyl overdose.’ Don’t believe us? Think it’s just a USA thing? Nope. Here are some Canadian news articles to get you started:

“She did not get the risks”: Esquimalt teen dies in suspected fentanyl overdose – this article tells the story of a teen who died because she believed in a world where someone could pay their dealer $20 extra “to make sure there’s no fentanyl.” In other words, the kids might know about the dangers of fentanyl already. They just might not think they will be a victim.

‘These drugs are killing our kids’: Why teen brains are more vulnerable to fentanyl and opioid addiction – this article shows the startling graph of the spike in fentanyl overdoses in 2016. It also tells the story of a teenage girl who died in a Port Moody, B.C. Starbucks bathroom because of fentanyl and heroin. And, the story of a 23-year-old who beat addiction in his teens, but later died from an overdose.

Pills laced with fentanyl found near teen who overdosed, police confirm – this is the story of a grade 9 Ottawa student who died of a fentanyl overdose after two days in hospital. The only warning sign? “A few typical teenage issues.” And apparently, a counsellor was not enough. Kids need to know, ‘real and hard,’ how serious this opioid crisis is.

What should parents and teachers do about fentanyl education among teens at home and at school?

You may feel like, as the parent, your kid won’t listen to you. It’s a common fear. But there are ways to go about the conversation. And part of that is forming the right relationship with your teen.

Apart from having ‘the talk,’ there is more you can do as a parent or teacher at school to give fentanyl education to teens.

Firstly, get educated about it yourself. Below are great resources to understand ‘what is fentanyl’? And many questions surrounding it:

http://www.projectknow.com/research/fentanyl-and-teens/

http://www.fraserhealth.ca/media/Overdose_SchoolToolkit_FINAL.pdf

http://globalnews.ca/news/2158422/fentanyl-101-the-facts-and-dangers/

Proactively educate teens on fentanyl dangers. Prevention is the best cure. And by that we don’t just mean telling kids not to do drugs. But know that most people taking opioids don’t know they are. In cases where they do know, it may have started out innocently, as pain medication. In fact, this article on Vox explains that more people are dying as a result of what starts as prescription opioids, than other recreational drug use.

Make sure your school is utilizing educational methods to keep teens aware of the risks of fentanyl. Remember, it’s not detectable, and not all drug sellers will say fentanyl has been added to their questionable products. Kids also should not assume that if a pill looks like a prescription, it is one.

Make sure teens know about precautions when using drugs. While we know it’s hard to make it sound like you’re ok with kids doing drugs, this point of education can save lives. Since the teens are likely to make choices due to peer pressure, or because they’re just unaware of the risks (like the stories above), these points can at least keep them in check:

• Get a hold of Naloxone (THN) kits. These can save lives if someone is overdosing. According to this article, even non-drug-using parents should have these, just in case they’re in a situation they’ll be needed.
• Never do drugs alone. Try to have a designated ‘no high’ person present.
• Know the symptoms of a fentanyl overdose.

And, a big one….

Teach teens to get their drugs tested for fentanyl before taking them. There are centres that will do this, such as Insite in Vancouver, online, or at certain pharmacies. You can advocate to have more centres offer these cheap, or free tests.

As parents and adults, let’s set examples for our kids when it comes to drug use

We’re going to end this with an opinion, by mentioning that during our research on this topic, we read about unsuspecting adults taking drugs, and dying of overdoses too. Of course, no one thinks it will be them until it happens. Recently a North Vancouver couple died of an overdose, leaving behind a two-year old. We found other stories of parents taking drugs around kids, which are too tear-jerking to mention here. But you can find them if you look.

When things like this happen, we have to wonder, why? Why waste life? For what? And, if they had survived, would they be indifferent about their decision? Would they do it again?

While articles above do explain that teen brains are developing, and thus can be more harmed by drugs, it doesn’t exempt adults from the responsibility of making those decisions wisely too. We’re even reading of marijuana laced with fentanyl – not a lot, but it’s out there. What seems innocent, and just some fun, may not be. Kids brains are not yet fully developed. But adult brains should be. Adults are in a better position to make mature decisions.

Teens are going through a hard time. While you may not play the role of being their ‘best buddy,’ you can set an example for them when it comes to drug use. If they see you behave irresponsibly with prescriptions, or with recreational drugs, expect that it will have an impact on their attitude towards them too.

See related on our blog: Parents beware: prescription drugs are being sold at school

When today’s generations of parents were in high school, peer pressure was surrounded by messages of ‘don’t do drugs’ and ‘don’t smoke.’ In today’s ‘technified’ world, however, our kids are faced with deceiving tactics to get them hooked on nicotine (or so the possibility is out there).

The danger today comes in the form of e-cigarettes (which is only one name for these devices). And, alarmingly, their usage rate among teens is growing. This also applies to Canadian teens.

E-cigarettes are becoming a deceiving health threat to teenagers in many ways

While battery-powered, electronic cigarettes are touted to be a healthier (but not ‘healthy’) option than actual tobacco-based cigarettes (for current smokers), they’re not necessarily harmless. Typically, they’re used as a method to quit or reduce smoking.

But among teens and new vapers, there are concerns e-cigs could lead to actual smoking. See these articles for more info:

E-cigarette use may lead to conventional smoking in teens, study finds

Teens who vape more likely to become heavy smokers

And so, parents be aware: teens are dangerously vaping e-cigs for flavours…or because they seem ‘harmless.’

Yes, we said “flavours.” It’s a bizarre concept for those who don’t participate in ‘smoking culture,’ we know. But it’s a ‘thing’ (kind of like menthol cigarettes). The packaging on the liquid that goes into these e-cigarettes advertise dessert and fruit flavours, among other options. Of course, that makes them alluring to the uneducated (especially youth). But as the U.S. Surgeon General points out in this video, reading about the nicotine content on these packages is not as obviously displayed.

This article at myhealthoc.org also points out that “vaping devices are being sold in every color of the rainbow sometimes with cartoon characters labeled on the outside or sleek attractive designs.”

One other deception being pointed out is the use of labels for these devices that don’t include the word “cigarette” in them. That can make them seem more harmless, according to some. For example, they can be called, “vape pens,” “vaporizers,” or “e-hookahs.”

E-cigarettes can affect brain health in teens, among other concerns

The U.S. Surgeon General, on a dedicated website to the issue, makes the case that use of nicotine affects brain development in growing teens. E-cigs also contain harmful substances, other than nicotine (like heavy metals). And the myhealthoc.org article linked to above states that:

“Other recent studies have found acetaldehyde and acetone in the vapor of several different e-cigarette models. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) conducted a study and discovered diethylene glycol, a chemical used in industrial antifreeze that is toxic to humans.”

A comical explanation of the brain effects of nicotine on kids was made by Rhett and Link on YouTube here. Clearly, the messaging there was to appeal to youth (and to make adults laugh a bit). But the surgeon general, who points out that video on his website, is serious – make no doubt about it.

The myhealthoc.org article linked-to above agrees yet again, explaining that risks of vaping include “inflammation of lungs, narrowing of airways, allergic reactions, and shortness of breath.”

Some articles online do point out that not all e-cigarette liquids contain nicotine. However, the potential for them to be a gateway drug is still a concern, as noted by an Edmonton doctor in this CBC article. Alberta influencers are also saying it’s time to start introducing regulations on e-cigarette products, due to their harmful potential on teens.

There are other reasons teens are opting for e-cigs over traditional cigarettes

If you thought flavouring was a weird reason to start vaping, you might be blown away by the other excuses kids are citing for their use of e-cigarettes. For example, blowing smoke competitions. Yup, like doing tricks by blowing the e-cig vapour out of your nose and mouth. Teens are getting into that.

Other reasons are because they cost less than traditional cigarettes, and because their friends are using them (because of course, being ‘cool’ is always in style…).

To conclude: it’s time to make teens aware of the harmful effects of e-cigarettes

While some vaping and e-cigarette regulations are being rolled out across Canada, parents and educators can do more with regards to prevention in youth. Of course, there are those who say kids could be doing more dangerous activities, and that the attraction could be a result of general risk-taking tendencies, or curiosity. But no doubt, the more kids know about how deceiving the marketing of these products has been, the more they’ll be able to make better-informed decisions about using them.