6 | May 2013 www.womanthismonth.com Letters WRITE IN AND WIN This month’s star letter will win a one-of-a-kind gift from Glasshouse Terraniums. To win a 'garden in a bottle' worth BD50, send us your views and opinions on our May 2013 edition either by email to [email protected], by fax to 17 813-700 or by post to PO Box 20461. Widening horizons It is with deep joy that I saw myself in the personality of La’aleh Al-Aali through her inspiring story published in the April issue of WTM. I was married when I found myself still hungry for improvement and self-fulfilment. Due to difficulty of bearing a child at the time, I stopped studying. I lost my scholarship afterwards. Some people told me that balancing married life while pursuing education is difficult and that I no longer can finish my studies. I proved them wrong. I was able to complete and earn my bachelor’s degree in accountancy by continuing my studies right after I gave birth to my first baby. You might be surprised to know that my grades were far better than they used to be, despite the lack of sleep every night. It also turned out that because of my high grades, I qualified for another scholarship provided by the university. My little angel became my inspiration! Obstacles in life do exist; we just have to view it in a positive way. Life isn’t always about falling. It’s all about a rise after our feet have stumbled. Maricar, by fax. What’s best for the kids Hi! Your magazine this month was truly a treat! It was filled with a lot of very nice information on fashion and trends, colours and clothes. I also did enjoy the article Just Playing and hope that more parents in Bahrain can spend more quality time with their kids, and spend more money on award-winning toys than on nannies and play schools. Over the years, I have invested in enough quality toys to outdo most preschools and playschools! And, I’ve never sent my kids to preschool before they were three years old. Alifiya, by email. 8 | April 2013 www.womanthismonth.com People Widening Horizons Marriage need not necessarily be the end of the road to higher education for women. Indeed, as many women have discovered, it can be a stepping stone to higher aspirations and wider life goals. M any an ambitious wife will attest to the fact that integrating a career with family aspirations has now become realistic and possible. Far from being complacent with success, working women are increasingly turning to higher education in their quest for constant professional and personal growth. Two Bahraini career women pursuing higher education give us an insight into their endeavours in self-actualisation. Implementing Strategies La’aleh Al-Aali could pass off for a high school graduate. It comes as a surprise, when this petite 20- something reveals she is a graduate teaching assistant at the University of Manchester, where she’s pursuing her PhD in the nationalisation strategies of GCC nations. La’aleh has always been ahead of her years. She was the youngest Bahraini in 2006 to win the Chevening Scholarship, which she used to pursue a master’s degree in human resources development (HRD). Back in Bahrain after earning a distinction, she found few organisations here work within the specialisation of HRD. “Organisations in Bahrain have approached personnel management as a service. The development of the workforce, which is at the core of HRD, hasn’t yet taken off in the Kingdom. If we’re to sustain the economy, we need to retain and develop educated nationals in the workforce,” she notes. La’aleh was implementing a performance management system for GPIC, an organisation she believes is a true model for HRD, when GPIC president Abdul Rahman Jawahery encouraged her to pursue this area further. “I’m now looking at HR from a wider perspective, more in the realm of government policy. I want to help devise a national solution in utilising resources. I hope to make a change in Bahrain with my participation in the capacity building process,” she says. Most Bahraini youngsters don’t have a mentor to advise them on a choice of career or higher education and education itself has failed to meet the market needs, she observes. Retaining young and educated Bahrainis is another challenge as they need employers who can trust them and develop their potential. “I think certain positions should be nationalised by law, because only a Bahraini understands the local mindset and the culture. A national can be an effective coach and mentor,” she says. Bahraini women too, need to contribute more to the economy, by being more active in their careers, rather than restricting themselves to certain sectors and certain working hours. “We need to sacrifice some years of our lives before we get into our comfort zone. Women should not compromise on their family or the organisation they work for, which is a second family. It’s likely that they’ll find a balance between these two homes,” she adds. As for herself, La’aleh concedes that she’s lucky to have an open-minded husband and parents, who have always backed her aspirations. “If it hadn’t been for my husband’s unstinted support, I might have pursued higher learning, but it would have been of the distance learning variety,” she says. La’aleh Al-Aali La’aleh Al-Aali STAR LETTER Now Write Write Here Shedding weight Your article Slim Down and Live Healthy was very inspiring. Obesity is an excess proportion of total body fat. A person is considered to be obese when his or her weight is 20 per cent more than normal weight. A person may be overweight from extra muscle, bone, or water, as well as from having too much fat. Here are the main causes: Diet: The widespread availability of nutritional guidelines has done little to address the problems of overeating and poor dietary choice. Sedentary lifestyle: A sedentary lifestyle plays a significant role in obesity. Genetics: Like many other medical conditions, obesity is the result of interplay between genetic and environmental factors. Other illnesses: Certain physical and mental illnesses and the pharmaceutical substances used to treat them can increase risk of obesity. Social determinants: Among developed countries, levels of adult obesity and the percentage of teenage children who are overweight are correlated with income inequality. ” Euna, by email. 12 | April 2013 www.womanthismonth.com Campaign Slim Down and Live Healthy Bahrain has its fair share of the obese and overweight population, but none are more at risk than people whose Body Mass Index is 40 or higher, a condition that is termed ‘potentially life threatening’ by doctors. “Shrink your Waist, Grow your Health” is a weight loss project launched by Royal Bahrain Hospital (RBH) to specifically address this particular segment. Under the initiative, RBH will bring top Italian surgeons to the Kingdom, where they will be available for consultation and weight loss surgeries on a regular basis. “Through careful study of the GCC needs, we realised that obesity is a major social health issue that RBH, as a medical facility, should tackle,” says Ravi Preet, chief operating officer at RBH. The Italian team comprises Dr Emanuele Smrekar, a general surgeon and oncologist who specialises in bariatric surgery and Dr Giovanni Battista Ferrando a cosmetic, plastic and reconstructive surgeon. Bariatric surgery mainly involves either a gastric binding or a gastric bypass procedure. With a gastric bypass, the stomach is made much smaller causing it to fill up with small quantities of food, which means that the body absorbs fewer calories. Gastric banding involves fitting a band around the top of the stomach, which causes a feeling of fullness even with small amounts of food. Both surgeries are designed to be permanent, but only patients with life-threatening obesity, that is, those with a body mass index of over 40, are eligible for these procedures. Also part of the new weight loss project is RBH nutrition therapist and dietician Nada Jawahery who will assist in the recovery process, ensuring that patients follow the right diet and alter their nutrition practices after the surgery. CFar Medicals, an international medical recruiting and services provider, is bringing the Italian surgeons to Bahrain. The project was launched on February 21 with an open house, inviting patients to walk in for a health check-up and pose queries to doctors and dieticians before they register for treatment. The initiative has twin objectives, notes Haifa Naseeb, spokesperson for the project at RBH. “The first is to encourage weight loss as a solution not only to obesity, but for resolving all obesity-related diseases. Secondly, we understand that only patients with a BMI of 40 and above are eligible for weight loss surgery. Thus, we hope to encourage people who fall in the BMI range of 30 and above to adapt lifestyle changes and improve their health,” she says. By Simi Kamboj There’s no denying that obesity ranks among the top three health issues confronting the Kingdom today. A new weight loss initiative by Royal Bahrain Hospital offers a last resort for the dangerously obese. 88 | April 2013 www.womanthismonth.com www.womanthismonth.com 89 April 2013 | Parenting Just Playing? A s adults, life constantly presents us with problems. Life offers less problems to young children, in some ways as other people are there to think for them, help them, do for them, and sometimes denying them the need and experience of solving problems for themselves. Yet observe your children as they play and you will see them reflecting, problem solving and creating. This is usually accompanied by energy burst of excitement and, of course, concentration. However, how can you support your child? This article will provide you with some practical solutions. There has been a considerable amount of research, conducted mostly on preschool children, on the relationship between play and problem solving. A child’s natural response to a problem is often to ask for help, for example, if they need a drink or if they require their shoe laces tying. We even see children handing rubbish to parents for them to put it in a bin. Through your caring nature you may wish to solve their problems for them — this is natural. What can you do? Research suggests that opportunities to play with a variety of materials is linked to the development of two key skills — abstract (symbolic) and divergent thinking (exploring as many aspects to a problem as possible) — which foster problem solving abilities (Burke, 2010). Despite the elusive nature of play, there is a superiority of play over non-play activities. Moroever, play is so natural and the resources used do not need to be expensive or specialised. Think of children making a space ship or a den out of boxes and the way nature and play are so attuned, and where children play with sand and water for hours! When such play is happening, you can just step back and ensure that your children are safe and happy while they develop team skills and contribute ideas verbally and non-verbally. You may want to ask some open questions on occasions to guide their thinking if something is not working for them after they have tried a number of solutions. You will be able to sense when this is appropriate by the feeling and mood of your child. Are they looking confused or frustrated? An element of confusion is good as this allows them to consider and experiment with solutions; however, frustration may need your attention to keep them interested. Yet frustration can also ignite determination to succeed, so don’t step in too soon! It’s important to learn about your child’s interests to encourage play and problem solving. Play is often a great way to express creativity and solve problems, says CLARE BECKETT-MCINROY. Problem Solving In summary, in relation to problem solving, Ann Epstein (2007) talks about teachers being intentional in their actions by: l Keeping in mind key goals for learning and development l Creating supportive environments l Curriculum planning and l Selecting from a variety of teaching strategies that promote thinking and skills Encouraging play At the onset, keep an open mind. Just like when you encourage your child to try a variety of foods, exposing them to a variety of children and experiences is important too. Take your child out to visit museums, parks, beaches, to see animals, to interactive science centres, to browse around toy shops and libraries because all these places stimulate their imagination. When you visit other homes, watch to see which toys or activities are exciting to your child. Try to avoid labelling toys as gender specific. Instead, allow your child to play with everything available to them. As your child develops, their interests will change, so be flexible enough to follow their lead. When a toy or activity is no longer age appropriate and challenging, your child will lose interest. When you buy toys, begin with basics. Consider toys that have more than one function, require imagination, and provide a challenge; for example, there are bricks or building blocks of many kinds for different age levels. Music is a fabulous stimulus for play and creativity as it offers a range of activities, including singing, playing instruments and dancing. Allow your child the space to use alternatives to normal instruments such as pan lids! Art and craft materials are multi-functional as well, and they stimulate imagination and introduce challenges. You can learn a great deal about your child, and yourself, through play. Embrace creativity On a grander scale many believe that creativity is the key to enabling technological innovations, which impact our economic survival and the future needs of society. Creativity, in reality, is not a simple concept; it is somewhat complex in that it includes related elements. It is a personality characteristic or attitude that involves mental flexibility, impulsiveness, curiosity and determination. Children judged to be very creative display evidence of persistence, self-confidence, high energy levels, flexibility, openness to new experiences and a good sense of humour. They may also display intrapersonal awareness, awareness of their own feelings and emotions. These attributes are also important as your child becomes more and more independent, so think of ways that they can be encouraged. What can you take away from this as a parent? Children need activities where they can be fully engrossed in their play. Educator Ann Epstein calls this child-guided. They also need to be adult-guided for some activities or at certain times and they also need a combination of the two. What you can do is be aware of when you are over-guiding. Step back at that point to enjoy observing play just happen! Further Reading Burke, Anne (2010) Ready to Learn: Using Play to Build Literacy Skills in Young Learners, Pembroke Publishing Ltd Epstein, Ann (2007) The Intentional Teacher: Choosing the best Strategies for Young Children’s Learning, National Association for the Education of Young Children, Washington DC.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy Mjk0MTkxMQ==