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Archive for October, 2012
Daylight Saving Time
Most people enjoy the idea of “Winter Time” being re-introduced again. Because this allows them to sleep one more hour, without “loosing” that hour of the day. For me it’s no fun, as it is hard for me to adjust my routine. It will take me weeks to adjust. And then in March it will be again a challenge to adjust it. Yes, last night at 2 a.m. the clock was put one hour backwards.
The time adjustment is known as “Summer time” or “Daytime Saving Time”, since this adjustment is actually made to the “natural” time. In summer the normal time gets adjusted in order to make most out of seasonal daylight. In Autumn the adjustment gets turned back, with this adjustment time goes back to normal natural settings.
Why this whole adjustment tour, if it would be the most easiest to leave it all the natural way? The introduction goes back to the beginning of World War I in order to save energy for war production by taking advantage of daylight during spring and summer. After World War I most countries stopped observing the daytime adjustment. But only till World War II started: Daytime Saving Time got reintroduced. Again, once the war ended it got abandoned to be reintroduced again during the Energy Crisis in the 60’s and 70’s.
In 1981 the European Union countries (the USA also uses Daytime Saving Time, but with other dates) decided that Summer Time would be started on the last Sunday of March, by putting the clock one hour forward. Yet it there was no mutual date on putting the clock one hour back in fall. Most mainland EU countries had the last Sunday of September as the day of going backward an hour in time, while the UK and Ireland had the 4th Sunday of October scheduled for “falling back” an hour. These two dates changed only in 1996, when the EU countries decided to go forward one hour on the last Sunday of March and go backwards one hour on the 4th Sunday of October. The final adjustment was made in 1998, when the end date was decided to be the last Sunday of October. This final adjustment is still in operation today.
As I started this article with, for me personally, the time adjustments aren’t very joyous. And with me there many others who think that there are no benefits in changing from Daylight Saving Time to natural time, as it can have a huge impact on our biological clock as research has shown, but there are more reasons. Not only human beings feel the impact of time adjustment according to seasonal changes, almost all creatures are being influenced by this time change. Strange perhaps, animals and plants don’t use a watch to keep track of time, but those creatures who are in one way other “dependent” on humans, will experience it. For example, feeding time will change or letting the dog out for its natural needs will be adjusted too. Yet not everybody thinks that there are no benefits. Others see that there are more benefits in going forward and backward between “Summer Time” and “Winter Time”, the biggest benefit of “Summer Time” is that it saves energy, but there can be put question marks at this assumption. Nowadays many people have air-conditioning, and the longer they stay up, the longer the air-conditioning are in operation mode and many more devices are turned on during “stay up”-time.
Scientific proof has been given that there are huge effects with Daylight Saving Time. Still our government and the EU, are maintaining Daylight Saving Time. To maintain or not to maintain, that will be the question in the future. And for us simple civilians; we will have to abide by the decision, whether we like it or not…
Youth and rifle clubs
Two days ago I was sitting in the car, driving home from my parents. And trust me, this ride isn’t a long one. If the traffic lights cooperate, I’m home within 5 minutes. So I had been in the car for a few minutes and decided to turn on the radio. There was nothing interesting to listen to, so in those few minutes I still had to drive, I “zapped” to another station. And there I got in something like a little shock. They were speaking about children allowed to be a member of a rifle club from the age of 12! I seriously find it both shocking and disturbing. Guns are not toys to play around with, even adults, who are believed to be wise enough to know how to deal with guns, are not allowed to carry them around of keep them at their place. And here, in The Netherlands, 12 year olds are allowed to be a member of a rifle club.
For me it seems to be an issue of double standards. When it comes to movies, programs and games which exhibit too much violence, they get heavily criticized. They get criticized because it is said, and it has been shown by scientific research too, that media that display too much violence have a short-term and long-term negative effect on the aggressiveness of children. On the other side it is legally allowed to become a member of a rifle club at the age of 12. At 12, when you are still a child and still have to learn how to deal with small responsibilities, you are allowed to have a membership at a club where you learn how to use a rifle; a huge responsibility. The Netherlands also has a law which prohibits buying alcohol before you turn 18 years old. But it is allowed to use a light calibre rifle at the rifle club at the age of 16. And on top of it, in this country ones parents are still financially responsible for their peers till they turn 21 years old, but it again by law is allowed to have a gun licence at the age of 18. Which scale is being used to decide on rifles and rifle clubs and which scale is being used in order to determine at what ages what is allowed to do?
The government should give its attention to laws and rules for weapons, especially now this subject has the attention of the media. The media showed that less licences have been given to people in the last 12 months, compared to the 12 months before. This is possibly caused by the Dutch gunman who caused a bloodbath in The Netherland in April 2011. But it’s not only important to see why licences are given or not, the government should also see to it that the laws and rules are kept updated according to the developments in society. And since it’s a government institution who decides which person will get a gun licence or not, it should be up to the government to keep the laws and rules updated as per the developments in society.
The government might not be able to decide which television programs or movies children are (not) allowed to watch, or which computer games they should or should not play. It is a fact that we are living in a democracy; a free country. This does not mean that everything is possible in The Netherlands. There were the safety of the citizens come into jeopardy, the government has to interfere. And where there are weapons involved, the governments interference is a must. The government develops policy for the use and keeping of weapons, this means they are responsible for the law and rules made in this area. With this, the government creates the possibility to change the law and rules as needed. Especially when the citizens don’t have objections against the changes. Unfortunately the glass globe which allows a peek into the future, doesn’t exist. Therefor it is always better to prevent than to cure. Or should there be an opportunity to create (mass)murderers?
Raising children
We all know about children who misbehave when they are not being accompanied by any adult. But occasionally we bump into children who even misbehave when they are being accompanied by adults, mostly the adults being their mom. Did you ever stand still to look at the mother and to realize that the mother is still a child herself? Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying that adult mothers don’t raise children who misbehave, nor am I saying that all teen moms don’t know how to instill their child with a good upbringing.
But getting back to the issue of children misbehaving, I’m talking about children who don’t have any disorder, due to which the upbringing of a child becomes more difficult. It’s about children like most of us are. And yet you see them screaming, crying and declaring a war, just because mom isn’t buying them a candy bar or some unneeded toy. It then becomes an issue of child upbringing. Most of the time we indeed blame the age of childbearing for a wrong child upbringing. We are being biased, so was I, till I looked at research done on the topic of teenage moms. Levine et all. (2007) indeed state that
“Children born to early child bearers are more likely than other children to display problem behaviors or poor academic performance, but it is unclear whether early childbearing plays a causal role in these outcomes. […] We find evidence that teen childbearing plays no causal role in children’s test scores and in some behavioral outcomes of adolescents. For other behavioral outcomes, we find that different methodologies produce differing results. We thus suggest caution in drawing conclusions about early parenthood’s overarching effect.”
Assuming that the age of childbearing plays a huge role in the behavior of their sprouts is not that obvious anymore. Research shows that the role of family support determines the development outcomes in children of teen mothers. For example Cooley and Unger (1991) suggest that if there is family support in teen families, that it can act as a mediator of stress. This stress is often experienced as a result of teen parenthood. It is assumable that if there is family support for a teenage mom, there will be less stress and with that she will be able to give her child a good upbringing, together with her family.
But what if a teenage mom does not have this “luxury” position of family acting as a mediator of stress? Don’t forget that she herself is still growing up. For adult parents raising children is already a fulltime job itself, which demands patience, attention, and affection. It is well-known that teenagers are most of the time struggling to get these under control. In such cases a parent can benefit from parenting education. It can even become a support factor for a lot of parents.
When looking at society through the eyes of people in their thirties and older, society has changed a lot compared to the time they were growing up. Back then, children didn’t dare to go against their parents, children were polite and well-behaved, and so on. Especially compared to the current teenagers. But this again is a statement given by everyone who has passed the teen years long ago. And I’m sure the current teens will make this statement too in about twenty years from now. But this doesn’t mean that society hasn’t changed. It has. For example, religion isn’t a big part of life for most people anymore, at least in the West. Sexuality is an issue that can be spoken about openly now, this wasn’t that easy before flower power emerged. The Internet makes it possible to get as much information on all kinds of issues you’re interested in. Children nowadays seem to be more wise than the overaged thirty-ers were back then. People tend to be more independent. Less interference from family, not always because they don’t want to, but more due to the hasty way of living which has become quite normal in Europe and the USA. We demand so much from ourselves, that it has become part of the society we live in; it has become a standard.
Society becoming more independent, should not mean that children should account for their own upbringing, that parents have no responsibilities anymore when it comes to upbringing. Often you hear about moms coming from work, picking up their children and when arriving home, they put them in front of the tv, let them have dinner in front of the tv and let them watch tv till it’s time to go to bed or they even have a tv in their bedroom. When it comes to correcting bad behavior, they just yell and that’s it.
I know, I started this article about teen moms and the upbringing of their children, but while writing this last part on this issue I realized that not only the offspring of teenage mom behave in this bad way, but even those of adult moms and even the children who are raised by two adult parents show bad behavior. But yes, it is true that teenage moms most often lack the ability to give their children patience, attention and affection as needed; they most often don’t know how to. Having a parent who knows how to give a good upbringing, makes not only the child successful but also the parent. If parenting education would become compulsory, society would probably become a better place to live in. New-to-be moms (and dads), especially teen moms, should learn some parenting techniques, and perhaps get a freshening up course when the next pregnancy knocks on the door. At least the chances of hearing stories such as the story of a mother being sentenced to 99 years of prison for having her 2-year-old daughter’s hands glued to the wall would decrease, or wouldn’t it?
The outcome
As promised, 2 weeks ago, I would keep you posted about the outcome of the investigation. Well, I’m happy to tell you that the outcome of the background checks and all were ok. I had my introduction at the office, and I’m starting this week itself! Finally a good development in my job hunting adventure.
This is indeed a volunteer job, but nevertheless, it brings me job experience which I desperately need if I ever want a job as a Sociologist. But as happy as I am, as much nervous I’m becoming. Now it’s really a fact: no more student, you’ve become a professional! With that a lot of responsibilities come, but the thing that makes me the most nervous is, is that I have no experience at all in being a professional Sociologist. Yes, as a student Sociologist I have loads of experience, but now, I’m throwing myself into the deep, with no clue how deep it is… Scary thought!
But thank God, I’m not the only one who has to go through this. So let’s stay positive, I worked hard to get my degree and I do have the knowledge of a Sociologist, the only thing lacking at this moment is experience as a Sociologist. And experience you gain only while being on the job. So even though I’m nervous and getting a bit frightened, I’ve decided I will try my level best to gain all the experience needed as a Sociologist during my time as a volunteer. Okay, all the experience is a bit unrealistic, but at least enough experience to find me good job as a Sociologist in the near future!
Some nervousness is good, it keeps ones mind sharp and accurate. It’s part of becoming a good professional, so I guess we all have to go through this… And this probably happens only once, graduating and being unexperienced, so let’s enjoy this little rollercoaster ride with positivity into professional wisdomhood. What do you say?
Desk Yoga at the office
Yoga is indeed a great way to de-stress, but doing Yoga most of the time means lying down, with enough space around you to move in all kinds of (sometimes) difficult positions can be hard or not possible at all. But with these positions you can de-stress with Yoga behind your desk! Enjoy de-stressing at work!
Experience and Age
This is becoming my biggest fear slowely…
Miss Policy 
Written
on 28 October 2012