European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 11, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse Deal wit different Era probably have Ihn most difficulty someone who is Diller ensure is Al its Peak As is the desire h a group att of which conflicts wih Oping sense of empathy. In arc so emotionally vulnerable Al a cause of the physical changes ving Brunnquell said t physical differences in someone else a their be really need is Basic training in Ign starting with said Iff iams. A professor of psychology at isl University in Winston Salem . Pc to Imp tank to idea thai people sorts of ways and thai it has nothing who the Good Guys and the bad Guys a children respond to someone ability is largely dependent upon How around them respond said Tolor a professor of psychology Al University in Connecticut who has in adults react to children with and emotional disabilities. Landing How children of Dit Lerent Ages it disabilities can help parents guide Ron. Iris coolers Wail until the situation Isola advised go Refl who teaches 3 How to put on puppet shows for ups about children with disabilities mis Are called count me prepare children that Young Lor 3 that has t happened in their tile yet a Slage Lor fear said Gorta. We la see the difference school children often react strongly to who appears Diller enl. Suchot ogints recommend hat you Lur child s comments without passing even if you Don t approve. Child describes a classmate who s in chemotherapy for cancer by saying 3 and looks really ugly Don t Tell him Jlon t say he s ugly " said Bunn Tiell. A ask whal makes you say that ii s do Esthal the child has said that s if the our children Ida Lily their emotional to the person. Scars scare you j frightened by How tha Olhorn children ? i worry thai this might happen to you Lake a Lew Days Lor Young children to Nese questions and to ask questions of i. Vilh your children about their is to the other child and not us the Gorka advised ascribed a recent meeting Between her m con and a boy the same age who vral disabilities. Her son just sat Back and watched the id because he did t know How to Deal wound up communicating through a be corks said. Her boy showed my son the strategy ing Down All the planes. By the end of Loon my son asked Lithe other boy tie Over to our House to play with my Latchkey kids not necessarily suffering by Daniel Goleman new York times oing Home alter school loan empty House is not by itself necessarily bad for children in Grade school. Instead studies indicate that any potential ill Ella cd on a child s social emotional and academic Well being can be Folsel in the child knows that a a incl is monitoring his after school time and if the Parent is readily available by Les Ephone. The Issue is not so much if someone is there when a child gels Home from school As whether someone is there psychological Lor the child said Jay Belsky a professor o human development Al the Pennsylvania Stato University who is an expert on child development. Does he have someone to Call and ask in a needs something or do the parents come Home and really Caro what the child did Aller school the psychological connection is More important than the physical one. " concerns Over such Latchkey children who Are on their own after school gained National a Flection in 1983 because of a Book. The handbook far Latchkey children Ana their parents that asserted that such children were More lonely and Leaf Ful and showed More signs of emotional con lick and stress than other children the Lew other studies Al the Issue completed since inert however have failed to find Art major differences Between Latchkey children and others. For working parents the news is very Good just because you re no Home does not mean your children will suffer said Lawrence Steinberg a psychologist at Temple University who has done some of the major studies of Latchkey children. Most studies show that Aboul 15 percent of children from 6 to 9 years old do not have a Parent or other adult present when they come Home from school said Fern Marx a researcher Al Tho school ago child care project at Wellesley College. Despite the new findings some child development experts express concern about the possible hidden costs of letting children come Homo to an empty House. The Latchkey arrangement has Many problems and the younger the child the greater the risks said Thomas Long director of the Center foe family research at Catholic University. There s physical risk from fire for example. There s emotional risk fear loneliness and feelings of abandonment. Despite new finding about Latchkey idas a psychologist still maintains that the younger the child the greater the and then there s lha stress especially in a youngster is responsible for younger the most recent study of Latchkey children was conducted by researches at Iho University of Texas Al Dallas. Third graders who spent the after school hours Home alone wore compared with a group who went Home to their mothers or to baby Sillers and with a group tha attended a Day care Canter. That Center however was intended primarily Lor younger preschool children. The study published in the september Issue o the journal child development showed that those who were alone fared As Well on less of social and academic skills 33 those who were supervised by their mothers or by a Sitter and belter than the children who went to the supervised program in addition to indicating that Latchkey children were not necessarily Suller Irig the study also pointed up the importance of an after school program Well designed for the age group experts said one of the psychologists who did the study Deborah Vandill said a possible reason Why the Latchkey children were doing better than those in the program Aller school was thai the program was not designed for the third graders who went i hero. The children had Little to do she Sard and perhaps worse from Tho children s Point of View was the stigma the facility was a Day care Center designed mainly for preschool children the third graders said in was for babies and Many did not want to ,1988 the stars and stripes Paga 15
