When Children’s of Alabama launched the Alabama chapter of SAFE Kids in 1989, there were no child passenger restraint nor seat belt laws of any kind in the state. Now, 30 years later, a lot has changed to make the state’s roads safer for children and their families.

Alabama was one of the first states in the nation to establish a statewide SAFE Kids coalition. Since the chapter’s founding, Children’s and its SAFE Kids Alabama partners have led an ongoing campaign that includes education, legislation, environmental modification and technologic application. The coalition also tracks epidemiologic data to guide and evaluate intervention strategies.

Children’s, under the leadership of then-CEO Dr. Jim Dearth, supported the development of SAFE Kids
Alabama with Dr. Bill King as its first director. The purpose of SAFE Kids Alabama was to build a statewide, grassroots coalition and to encourage corporate and private participation in preventing unintentional injury in Alabama children.

“It’s one of those things that people may take for granted, but this state is truly safer for children and drivers of all ages today than it was 30 years ago,” said King, now retired at Children’s and a Professor Emeritus at UAB. “A lot of hard work by a lot of people and agencies from all across the state, including bipartisan political efforts, was necessary. Our numbers of severe injuries and deaths in children are much better than where we were.

“Improvement in usage rates of car seats and seat belts are particularly noteworthy,” King continued. “Of course, there are always important, new challenges for us to address, like teen driver and passenger safety!”

While the state is statistically safer, motor vehicle crashes (MVC) remain the leading cause of death and disability for children in Alabama as well as the United States. Accomplishments since the chapter’s founding in 1989 include:

• According to the Alabama Department of Public Health, overall child passenger safety usage has
  increased from less than 10% in 1981 to more than 96% today.
• The following laws have been passed in Alabama:
  o 1982 – State passed law requiring children through age 3 to be transported in child passenger safety seats.
  o 1991 – State passed its first seatbelt law, making not wearing a seatbelt while being in the front seat a secondary violation.
  o 1994 – Law passed stating that children younger than 8 years of age must wear a properly secured U.S. Coast Guard personal flotation device (PFD) at all times while onboard any boat, except when in an enclosed cabin.
  o 1995 – Bicycle helmet law passed, requiring everyone under the age of 16 to wear a helmet when riding a bicycle.
  o 1999 – The existing secondary seatbelt law was made a primary offense.
  o 2002 – First Graduated Driver’s License (GDL) passed, requiring new drivers achieve stages of advancement before unrestricted teen driving, generally limiting late-night driving and the number of passengers under age 21.
  o 2006 – Car seat law amended to include booster seats.
  o 2010 – GDL amended with numerous restrictions, including use of any handheld communication device.
  o 2015 – GDL amended to require additional supervised driving time and reduced nighttime driving.
  o 2017 – GDL amended to allow for primary enforcement.

Marie Crew, director of SAFE Kids Alabama, pointed to several Children’s-led initiatives involving pedestrian safety, bicycle and ATV safety, and distracted driving as examples of raising awareness.

“Our immediate focus is on helping raise safety awareness among teens and their parents,” Crew said. “As the old saying goes, ‘An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.’ We want to do everything we can to help parents model safe driving behaviors and to initiate what can be uncomfortable conversations with their children about the risks associated with the responsibility of driving.”

By Dr. Pamela Roggeman, academic dean, University of Phoenix College of Education

Summer vacations can be a wonderful time to relax and enjoy warm weather, summer camps and family vacations. However, these lengthy gaps spent away from the educational environment could negatively impact a student’s academic progress. Researchers who study education call this phenomenon “summer slide”—the tendency for students to lose some of the academic gains they made during the previous school year once summer arrives, when they are no longer in a structured academic environment.

Time away from school does not just mean progress stops. For many students, they may lose some of the progress they have made. By fifth grade, summer learning loss can leave students 2.5 to 3 years behind their peers. Summer learning loss in the elementary school years alone accounts for at least half of the ninth-grade reading achievement gap.

One of the best ways to combat the summer slide is a team effort made by teachers, parents and students themselves. However, Americans have mixed feelings about summer slide, as well as how to address it. In a recent University of Phoenix® College of Education survey of American adults, 61 percent of respondents agree that it is important that children be involved in an educational summer program while school is out during summer break. However, when asked whether it is appropriate for schools to provide assignments for students to complete while school is out on summer break, nearly half of respondents (48 percent) said that it is not appropriate, while only 37 percent said it is appropriate.

Given these statistics, it may seem challenging to win everyone over to the idea of being proactive about preventing summer slide. But there are many activities and resources that teachers can provide to students and their parents during the summer months that don’t include a heavy volume of homework or summer school. Here are some tips to help teachers communicate with parents in motivating their students this season:

Summer reading. Summer reading is helpful for students to maintain and continue building their reading skills. Teachers should consider assigning books that aren’t simply homework-based, but will make the child think on a much larger level.

Keep an activity journal. Encourage students to start keeping a journal to regularly document their activities throughout the summer. Give guidelines about what they can think about or consider writing about, and build in the potential for them to use this journal to write a summary at the start of the new school year.

Create a parent/student activity calendar. Provide parents with information for educational camps and structured social activities that parents can participate in with their children. Encourage parents to take part in these activities wherever possible to make it more fun for children and make it feel less like “homework.”

Capitalize on screen time. Challenge students to teach their parents about what they have learned from time spent on videos, podcasts and social media accounts.

Create a matching agreement. For every hour spent in front of a screen entertaining themselves by playing video games or watching Netflix, children should match that time with time spent on a learning activity. There are a multitude of educational online options varying from math games to improving key-boarding skills suited perfectly for this purpose.

Set learning self-improvement goals. These goals can include number of books read, minutes of math tutorials a day, or pages written. Then agree on a fun reward for goals attained.
Summer does not have to be a time where children fall behind in their academic development. Teachers, along with parents, with the tips listed above, can help students stay engaged and keep their minds sharp even when not in school.

About the Author:
Dr. Pamela Roggeman is a proven academic leader familiar with and passionate about technology in progressive education and has extensive experience designing curriculum and preparing teachers in a university setting. Roggeman currently serves as the Academic Dean for the College of Education at University of Phoenix.

Red Mountain Theatre Company is wrapping up its 2018-19 season with the fresh and creative musical Matilda The Musical at the Dorothy Jemison Day Theater on the campus of the Alabama School of Fine Arts. RMTC welcomes back a lovely presence on the stage, Bonny Baker, for the third summer in a row playing the heartwarming friend and teacher of Matilda, Miss Honey.

Whether it’s Hodel in Fiddler on the Roof or Belle in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Baker looks forward to the new and exciting challenge of undertaking a role. “This is a fresh and new experience for me. In the past, I have played very headstrong female characters, but with Miss Honey it’s a completely new angle. She is still very strong, but not in a forward way. Her strength lies in her quiet, kindness, and love for children,” Baker states.

The musical based off of the children’s book by famed author Roald Dahl, is a cute and charming tale with a powerful message that resonates throughout our community today. “It allows for us to understand that anybody has the ability to change the world. You just have to make a decision to overcome whatever obstacles you face and keep marching towards the greater good,” Baker points out.

In an age of popular, larger-than-life superheroes, it is refreshing to know the hero of our story in Matilda is not a powerful, towering adult that makes an impact, but an intelligent little girl with psychokinetic powers. Matilda faces the daily trials and tribulations of her unloving parents and an unbearable school headmistress, Miss Trunchbull, but overcomes them all with wit, charm, love, and friendship. This speaks volumes for Baker as she inserts, “The story gives children the chance to be the rockstar, the superhero. The children are the ones that save the day. How inspiring is that for any child? It allows the child to understand they can change the world now and not feel like they have to grow up to make a dent in society.”

Whether you are 2 or 92, Matilda is a story that will empower you to face the challenges of today’s world with a warm heart and a friendly smile. Matilda reminds us we are not alone in the struggle.

Matilda The Musical
July 12-August 4
Dorothy Jemison Day Theater
Click here for tickets and information.

During the 100 days of summer – between Memorial Day and Labor Day – the number of teens killed in car crashes increases 26 percent compared with the other months of the year.

“Summer is a time for teens to relax and have fun, but that doesn’t apply to the time they spend behind the wheel. Young drivers are at a greater risk for crashes compared to more experienced drivers,” said Marie Crew, director of Safe Kids Alabama at Children’s of Alabama. “Parents and other adults can model safe driving behavior, encouraging teen drivers how to become better drivers, keeping the roads safer for everyone.”

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for U.S. teens. According to Safe Kids Worldwide, factors contributing to teen driver crashes include:

• Not wearing seat belts – more than half of teens killed in crashes weren’t wearing their seat belt
• Texting while driving – at 55 mph, that’s like travelling the length of a football field blindfolded
• Afraid and not speaking up – half of teen passengers report feeling unsafe riding with a driver who isn’t alert; one-third of teens feel unsafe riding with a parent
• Too many passengers – when two or more teens ride in a vehicle with a teen driver, the risk of a fatal crash can double to triple; many states – including Alabama –  that limit the maximum number of passengers
• Drinking and driving – 15 percent of drivers aged 15-19 who were killed in crashes had a blood alcohol content of .08 percent or higher
• Driving when it’s dark – the risk of a fatal crash at night can be more than three times higher for teens than adults
• Speeding – more than one-third of teens killed in crashes were speeding

We were recently invited by the Great Wolf Lodge to come over and take advantage of their new day pass and explore the water park and other activities they have to offer. With their new day pass you can enjoy unlimited splashes at their 84-degree indoor water park, access to over 50 activities and more all under one roof, and be back in your own bed by bedtime. It’s the perfect day trip over from Birmingham and we had a great day. Here are 5 Things to Know before you go!

1. Indoor and Outdoor Fun:

The water park with all of the slides is indoors, but they also have a beautiful outdoor pool with lots of space for setting up your spot poolside. We made this our “basecamp” for the day for when everyone needed a little fresh air and sunshine. Cabanas are available for rent and they host a fun pool party during the day with music, dancing and games. While we were there for the water park, inside the lodge they offer a variety of activities from a ropes course, and bowling, to a rock wall, arcade and more.

2. Fun for All Ages:

Great Wolf Lodge really does offer fun for all ages with areas specifically designed for toddlers, tweens, teens, and even adults. Also for the adults, if you’re looking to enjoy an adult beverage while the tiny humans slide their little hearts out, there are several bars conveniently located where you can sip a cocktail and keep on eye on all their fun! (might we suggest the frozen Jack and Coke…)

3. Perfect Day Trip:

Located in LaGrange Ga, it took us a little over 2 hours to get there. However, we did have a little trouble getting it to pull up in our GPS, once we did, the route took us down US 431 and we felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. Not being familiar with the area we did get a little nervous that we weren’t on the right path. There are no signs along the way indicating you’re headed the right way, so you won’t know until you pull up that you’re there but it all worked out, don’t freak if you feel like you aren’t going the right way.

4. Eats:

There are lots of options for eating. We opted for the pizza from ‘Hungry as a Wolf’ and it didn’t break the bank. They also offer a couple of different spots where you can grab a burger, hot dog or fries. There’s a Dunkin’ Donuts, Ben & Jerry’s and a sit down restaurant if you want something a little less “fast food.”

5. Buy in Advance:

The offer for day passes is new and there are a limited number available each day, so make sure to purchase online before you go. Visit their site to see everything included in the day pass or to purchase.

Great Wolf Lodge is located at:

150 Tom Hall Parkway
LaGrange, GA 30240

Ticket Prices vary by day, and water park passes are non refundable. All sales are final