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Injection basics: Prepare your child for his shots

Young children must be mentally prepared for receiving daily insulin shots. Ease your child into the process with easy steps.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

A parent’s – any parent’s – biggest nightmare is watching their child in pain. Parenthood is all about fortifying oneself against the sight of one’s suffering child, so that the parent may give the child the strength to get through his or her illness.

Many parents are apprehensive when their young child is detected with diabetes and with good reason – the doctor might prescribe regular insulin shots. Any child is afraid of needles, and it can be daunting to explain to your child that he or she needs to take insulin shots every day. However, if you convince yourself that this is a necessary step in your child’s road to recovery, you can persuade your child that taking injections every day is a good thing. In time, your child will fear the process less and even be prepared to take injections by himself.

Here are 5 steps to follow in preparing your child to take injections:

1. Talk to the child calmly. Explain why your child needs to take daily injections. Tell him or her, “You need to take your injections so that you can grow up healthy and strong.” Every child needs to be told the reason behind your actions – don’t tell him that injections must be taken “because you say so.” Not preparing the child for the process can make him fearful and resistant to the idea. If necessary, have the conversation with your doctor present so that all questions can be answered.

2. Don’t be squeamish. If you show a fear of needles, so will your child. Show the insulin bottle and syringe to your child, and demonstrate how you will draw up the required dose of insulin before injecting him. Explain every step of the process, right down to how you will inject the needle. Tell your child that the needle will not hurt after a while, and that he must be absolutely still while being injected. Keep your tone measured – your aim is to remove the fear associated with the process.

3. Be careful with the injection. Be extremely precise with the dosage and leave out any air bubbles in the canister. Next, dip a cotton ball in cold water, squeeze it and rub it over the injection site. Pinch the skin at the injection site using your forefinger and thumb, and plunge the needle in slowly and completely. Talk to your child soothingly while the needle is in, and now push the plunger so that all the insulin is injected. Stop pinching the skin and slowly remove the needle. Apply gentle pressure at the site for five seconds. After the first few times, your child will learn to relax during the injection.

4. Supervise your child’s dosage. Your child may be in his teens and able to take the injection without your help – still supervise the process. Make sure the dosage is precise, and that the needle is completely plunged in. If there is an insulin leak (this happens when the needle has not gone in deep enough), don’t let the child take more insulin to compensate for the loss – this might cause blood sugar levels to plunge.

5. Consult the doctor regularly for dosage. As children grow, the requirement for insulin may vary. Regular blood tests are a must, and so are doctor consultations. Be precise in following the prescribed dosage. Also try and maintain a record of blood sugar readings, changed dosages and prescribed dietary controls so that your child’s diabetes may remain under control.

(Picture courtesy www.telegraph.co.uk. Image used for representational purpose only)

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‘People should want you around, not out’

Mumbai’s favourite son, Sachin Tendulkar, talks about life post-retirement, and why the second innings is as important as the first.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

The debate over whether he is the greatest cricketer of all time may continue to rage for several more years, but there’s no disputing the class and humility of cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar.

The second innings is as important as the first one in life, cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar told the audience at the keynote session of the India Today Conclave. “When I was playing, all my energy and concentration was focussed on the game. My family, and my well-wishers, made sure I did not have to worry about the other aspects. And now that I am playing the second innings of my life post-retirement, I want to give something back to the society, and the people who have stood by me ever since the first day I went to Ramakant Achrekar sir’s nets at Shivaji Park in Dadar,” he said.

Dwelling on his fascination for the game, Tendulkar said he was in love with cricket right from age six. Sunil Gavaskar and Viv Richards were his childhood idols, but he said he was always his own man. “I wanted to bat like them, but I still always wanted to be Sachin Tendulkar,” he said.

Revealing how he realised he made the right call on retiring after the home series against West Indies in 2013, the legend said he had to play an exhibition game at Lord’s last July without getting any practice beforehand since it had rained. “When I was in there, my body told me that I had made the right decision to retire!” he said.

Tendulkar went on to exhort the audience to avoid shortcuts in life: “Try and be a good person. My father used to say that people should want you around. They should not want you out.”

 

Asked if he intended to play a long innings in politics now that he is a Rajya Sabha MP, Tendulkar said, “I won’t join politics. Once a sportsman, always a sportsman.”

“To me, cricket is team work and not about individuals. There are stages where the captain come into play and he will guide, take important decisions on the field but eventually the batsmen would have to go out and score runs and the bowlers have to land the ball in those areas,” Tendulkar said.

“I was dropped from captaincy after only 12 or 13 months in my first stint. That was a disappointment because you select the captain thinking that he is going to take the team forward and then if that stint is not long enough, then the success rate becomes zero. If you play four matches, you lose two, then you are 50 per cent successful, so on and so forth.

“My tenure was not long enough and it was a big disappointment for me to overcome,” Tendulkar revealed. He then cheered the audience by saying that he firmly believed that “India would win the 2015 World Cup. There is not a single box that the team has not ticked. We don’t give enough credit when the team does well. I give full credit to this team.”

(Picture courtesy www.punjabupdate.com)

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A band of men saying ‘No’

The city-based Men Against Violence and Abuse (MAVA) is organising the ‘Say NO, Accept NO’ event for colleges located in Mumbai.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

A group of men and boys are talking to collegians in Mumbai to spread a simple but potent message: Say NO, Accept NO.

The brainchild of city-based gender rights organisation Men Against Violence & Abuse (MAVA), which has been working among the youth to prevent gender-based violence on women for the past 22 years, is organising ‘Yuva Abhivyakti 2015’, a two-day Inter-Collegiate cultural event between January 10 and 11, 2015.

The event, to be held at Amar Hind Mandal, Dadar West, would comprise poster making, essay writing, slogan writing, elocution, group singing and street play competitions on the theme of ‘Say NO, Accept NO’.

“The competitions aim at stimulating girls to say ‘NO’ to Verbal Abuse, Unwelcome Hug, Forced Marriage, Sexual Harassment, Domestic Violence, Dowry or anything about which they are uncomfortable, and simultaneously tell boys how they should accept the ‘NO’ of a girl,” explains Harish Sadani, Founder-Member, MAVA. He adds, “The competitions are open to all students studying in any college affiliated to Mumbai and SNDT Women’s University.”

For registration, interested students should contact leaders of respective competitions on the phone numbers given on the poster alongside. Alternately, they can send an email at yuvaabhivyakti2015@gmail.com.

“We hope that college students will participate in the event and its competitions in large numbers,” Sadani says.

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Maha Gov awards electronic limbs to accident victims

Mulund based social organisation Yuvak Pratishthan awards electronic limbs to 13 victims of train and road accidents in Mumbai city.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Mumbai and its people are increasingly at threat to life and limb owing to erratic and rash road driving, or worse, falling between the gaps in railway platforms and train coaches. After the Monica More train accident made headlines this year, many city-based organisations and individuals came forward to offer the girl’s family monetary help as well. However, what really helped Monica was receiving electronic prosthetic arms.

Another initiative in Mumbai recently witnessed the distribution of electronic limbs to 13 accident victims in Mumbai, at the hands of the Maharashtra State Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao. The recipients were accident victims who had lost their limbs in train accident, road or other accidents. Electronic limbs are typically powered by batteries and they are operated by means of electronic signals sent by the brain to muscles in the area (where the prosthetic is attached) telling it how to move.

The distribution programme was organised by Yuvak Pratishthan, which is founded by Member of Parliament Kirit Somaiya. Interestingly, Monika More was also present on the occasion. 

See some pics of the distribution ceremony below:

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Young Parsis take up the mantle for the community

Parsi community to promote togetherness and camaraderie through a series of programmes to be organised by the Xtremely Young Zoroastrians (XYZ).
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

The Parsi community is a riddle to all other communities in Mumbai: there are less than one lakh of them in the city, but they are mostly moneyed, highly educated and extremely revered as a community. The Parsis are intimately connected with Mumbai’s history, and though they don’t have the numbers, the community has left its mark on the city’s social fabric.

In order to keep the flame alive and create a sense of belonging and pride amongst the youngsters of the Zoroastrian Community, the newly established XYZ (Xtremely Young Zoroastrians) organisation has devised several programmes in the service of the community.

The organisation was launched yesterday at a South Mumbai-based auditorium, with the motto ‘Pursuit of Happiness’. XYZ would strive towards promoting togetherness and camaraderie through the series of programmes, to be conducted throughout the year.

Children from the Parsi community presented various religious and cultural performances, while there were other community talks and the awarding of an achiever from the community. “The launch ceremony also observed formation of an executive council of young Zoroastrians and an advisory board of renowned dignitaries from the Zoroastrian community. Under the able guidance of their holy Priest, the young Zoroastrians, all in the age-group from 5 to 15 years took the pledge to keep the flame alive by devising several programmes in the service of the community. These young Zoroastrians who would act as office bearers for XYZ were named after their historic figures, such as Daraius’ Daredevils from Colaba, Cyrus’ Superstars from Tardeo, Jamshed’s Giants from Byculla, Homai’s Heroes from Parel, Behram’s Battalion from Dadar, Rustom’s Rockstars from Bandra and Tehmurasp’s Titans from Andheri,” explained Hoshaang Gotla, founder of XYZ.

He added, “The XYZ-organised programmes will begin on Christmas Day, whereby the young Zoroastrians will pay visits to orphanages and old age homes across the city and gift the destitute children and the differently-abled ones. This is an attempt to bring a smile on their face and give them a ray of hope. Further, XYZ would strive towards building a strong sense of belonging and pride amongst the Zoroastrian children for their community. The religious values are an important part of our culture and we want our children to start adhering to them from an early age. The range of activities that would be carried out by XYZ would include developing leadership skills like goal setting, decision making, team work, people skills and money management and ethics.”

XYZ strongly believes that they would be able to create a sense of belonging and pride amongst the young Zoroastrians and preach the values laid down by the Zoroastrian Community.

What do you think of this initiative? Tell us in the comments section below.

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From today, loiter for two weeks

Five Mumbai-based women launch the ‘Why Loiter’ initiative from today; invite women to ‘loiter’ in public spaces and document themselves doing so.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Starting today, women in Mumbai are invited to loiter in public spaces of their choice – and document themselves doing so. The ‘Why Loiter’ campaign starts in Mumbai today, and will continue till January 1, 2015.

Authors of Why Loiter The brainchild of five Mumbai women – Shilpa Ranade, Shilpa Phadke, Sameera Khan (in pic on left), Neha Singh and Devina Kapoor – the initiative aims to focus the spotlight on gender imbalance in Indian society, and specifically with our society’s way of blaming the (female) victims of assault. What’s more, as the five say, they want to bring the ‘debate back to women’s right to have fun in the city’. The initiative invites women to share their pictures and experiences on social media using the hashtag #whyloiter.

Shilpa Ranade, Shilpa Phadke and Sameera Khan responded to The Metrognome’s questions on the initiative:

What prompted the ‘#WhyLoiter’ campaign?

We are responding to the victim blaming and shaming that takes place after most reported incidences of assault. We are also responding to the fact that increasingly violence has become the only language in which one can talk about gender in the public. We want to bring back the debate to women’s right to the city and just as importantly, women’s right to have fun in the city. The idea is to create a sense of a community of women in public space so that we can remind ourselves and other women that we are not alone. In doing so, we hope to create a conversation and target victim blaming in order to assert women’s right to the city, the right to take risks.

We are telling people that on the #whyloiter events page on FB that we will be sharing a series of posters inviting women to hang out as also a set of messages with them. We will also put out a series of tweets. So when anyone hangs out in the city having a good time, we are asking them to please post these to FB, Twitter, Instagram, Four Square, always using the hashtag #whyloiter. We also encourage them to create their own messages, art work and tweets and share them with us.

Here is what people can do to participate:

1. Starting December 16, you can change your profile picture/cover picture to one of the posters we’re sharing. Better still, use all the four on different days. Or simply share the posters on your page to build awareness.

2. At all times, particularly between December 16 and January 1, update your status on FB or tweet or share a photo via Instagram when you are having a good time in public and use the hashtag #whyloiter.

3. You can also follow us @whyloiter and share the tweet messages we are sharing on twitter.

4. Share the fact that you are loitering and if you like share your location too so we can create an exciting map of where women are loitering in the city.

Who conceived the initiative? 

There are five of us: Three of us Shilpa Phadke, Sameera Khan and Shilpa Ranade are authors of the book Why Loiter? Women and Risk on Mumbai Streets and have been engaging with these issues for a decade now.

Two of us, Neha Singh and Devina Kapoor having read the book have taken on the ideas of the book and with a growing group of women actively loiter in the city every weekend. (See this blog for more information) We also had the help of Nishant John, an advertising professional with some help from a designer friend of his, Abhishek Jayaprakash, who put together and designed the posters you will see on the events page starting December 16. It was in fact Nishant’s poster idea that set us on the route to this campaign.

How did you spread awareness about it?

Mostly on Facebook and twitter as it is an online event – and by getting friends to spread the word.

Do you plan to involve men as well?

Absolutely. All who support women’s right to public space at all times are welcome to join in. It is also inclusive of all queer people and transwomen as well.

Have you tied up with the Mumbai police or any city-based NGOs to reinforce the message further?

Not at this point, though we are in continuing conversation with many organisations and initiatives working on issues related to women’s access to public space.

What is your expectation out of the initiative?

That we will be able to generate a wide ranging and nuanced public debate on women’s right to the city. And just as importantly to talk about women’s right to loiter, to simply hang out and have fun in the city.

Is this an initiative only for Mumbai?

No. It is for ANY city in the world.

What has been the initial response to it?

People are rather delighted and excited by the possibilities. We hope it becomes truly something people take ownership of. At Kavita Krishnan’s suggestion, we are now collecting words in different languages that mean loitering. Check it out on the event page.

Why the two-week duration for it?

We are beginning on December 16, the two-year anniversary of the horrific Delhi gangrape and murder. To mark this day and to assert our right to public space as citizens, and to register our voices as an act of resistance, we are getting together for this online event.

And we are going on till New Year’s Day – especially since people usually have a good time on New Year’s Eve and we hope people will update their Facebook statuses and tweet from wherever they are having fun using the hashtag #whyloiter. It would be great if there were many voices so that we start the year on a  bang – and hopefully it will gather so much momentum that it can go on and on.

What are your thoughts on the overall attitude that ‘Mumbai is safer for women than other Indian cities’?

You know, our book has many pages answering just that question. The short answer is that yes Mumbai is relatively friendlier and more accessible but it’s really far from enough. And we have a very long way to go.

To participate in the initiative, follow @whyloiter on Twitter, www.facebook.com/why.loiter on Facebook. Use the hashtag: #whyloiter every time you post a picture on your own social media channels.

 (Picture courtesy Tejal Pandey, badalja.com)

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