Tots to Teens: The magic of Christmas at the movies
The Muppets Christmas Carol will be screened at the Triskel for Christmas.
Many of us have happy memories of being brought to see Christmas movies over the festive season.
The Triskel Arts Centre on Tobin Street in Cork City wants the children of today to have those same memories when they grow up, which is why it has organised a screening of four family favourites from December 17 to 22.
The Muppet Christmas Carol offers a zany take on Dickens’ classic. It’s a Wonderful Life is all about the importance of giving to others. Home Alone is the laugh-out-loud story of a kid taking on the bad guys and winning.
And Die Hard delivers great fun, lots of action and one of the best screen villains ever.
These gingerbread earrings would make a welcome stocking filler for tweens and teens. They are colourful and fun and guaranteed not to cause skin irritations.
The earrings are created by Kayleigh Sutton, a maximalist jewellery designer who lives in Tramore, Co Waterford.
Sutton always liked quirky earrings but her skin reacted badly to the metals used and she found most were too heavy for her earlobes.
So, she started making her own from lightweight and hypoallergenic materials.
- These earrings cost €38 and there are many more to choose from on Sutton’s website, phatpoly.ie.
Reading is a vital life skill that some children struggle to grasp. An Irish company has developed a digital tool called ALPACA to help them.
Developed by a team from the Learnovate Centre at Trinity College Dublin and tested in a year-long project with 1,000 junior infant children in 30 schools nationwide, it works as an early literacy screener.
The ALPACA tool identifies children who are likely to struggle with reading before they are ever taught to read so that they can receive the supports they need as soon as possible.
Children engage with ALPACA through a tablet device. They play interactive games that are designed to pinpoint future reading difficulties.
Research shows that if these potential problems are identified and addressed in children aged between four and six, the chances of those children reaching their potential increases four-fold.
It also takes four times less resources to intervene early rather than waiting until children are eight or older.
Talking to children about sex can be a minefield for parents. What words should we use? What information is appropriate for their age? How will we stop ourselves from blushing in embarrassment?
@sexpositive_families is the Instagram account of American sexuality educator and social worker Melissa Pintor Carnagey.
She believes that all children deserve holistic, comprehensive and shame-free sex education so that they can live informed, empowered and safer lives.
She’s also convinced that this starts with families in the home.
This is something she practices with her three children.
It’s what underpins her virtual puberty education programme Growing Into You and her best-selling book
It’s also at the heart of her Instagram account, which she uses to share tips and information that parents can use to talk about all things related to sex in an open, caring and healthy way.
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