Comment 23 of 34, added on July 26th, 2007 at 7:11 AM.

I like that!%

gari from United States

Comment 21 of 34, added on July 14th, 2007 at 8:35 PM.

this one is simple & nice.A

jan from United States

Comment 19 of 34, added on July 4th, 2007 at 4:43 AM.

This is a great tutorial thanks!d

djecki from United States

Comment 17 of 34, added on November 1st, 2006 at 5:56 PM.

Whether tragic events touch your family personally or are brought into your home via newspapers and television, you can help children cope with the anxiety that violence, death, and disasters can cause.

Listening and talking to children about their concerns can reassure them that they will be safe. Start by encouraging them to discuss how they have been affected by what is happening around them. Even young children may have specific questions about tragedies. Children react to stress at their own developmental level.

The Caring for Every Child's Mental Health Campaign offers these pointers for parents and other caregivers:

* Encourage children to ask questions. Listen to what they say. Provide comfort and assurance that address their specific fears. It's okay to admit you can't answer all of their questions.
* Talk on their level. Communicate with your children in a way they can understand. Don't get too technical or complicated.
* Find out what frightens them. Encourage your children to talk about fears they may have. They may worry that someone will harm them at school or that someone will try to hurt you.
* Focus on the positive. Reinforce the fact that most people are kind and caring. Remind your child of the heroic actions taken by ordinary people to help victims of tragedy.
* Pay attention. Your children's play and drawings may give you a glimpse into their questions or concerns. Ask them to tell you what is going on in the game or the picture. It's an opportunity to clarify any misconceptions, answer questions, and give reassurance.
* Develop a plan. Establish a family emergency plan for the future, such as a meeting place where everyone should gather if something unexpected happens in your family or neighborhood. It can help you and your children feel safer.

If you are concerned about your child's reaction to stress or trauma, call your physician or a community mental health center.




John Atkins from United States

Comment 15 of 34, added on March 15th, 2006 at 4:59 PM.

In response to Brandin's comment, we feel that we must make a few points.

1. Brandin, you have no grasp of the english language.
2. Your analytical skills are, at best, appalling.
3. You obviously have no idea what this poem is tryng to tell you.

This poem does indeed contain 3 "voices", through which the meaning is conveyed. There is the observer, the lover and the watches or clocks. Nowhere in the poem is the observer given a specfic age or gender. How you came to see an old man, we really don't know. It could be argued that the character is old, because of the use of the clocks and the references to the passing of time, and death and so on, but saying without a shadow of a doubt that it is an old man, is simply being mistaken. It could well be an old man, but we feel that it's by no means a sure thing and that the references to old age and death are most probably a glimpse of what may be to come in the future for the character.

The fields of harvest wheat is reference to the mood after world war two, that the individual is no longer important and that the lives of indiviuals are dispensable. Whether or not the observer grew up on a farm is completely irrelevant. The harvest wheat is purely a metaphor. it is no indication of the observer's eyesight.

Personally, we feel that it is not particularly confusing distinguishing which "character" is speaking. The lover's song is clearly put within inverted commas, asis the speech by time- and as for the 'old man' having no thoughts when the clocks are whirring and chiming- what are you on about? This whirring and chiming is not literally taking up that ammount of time, and no doubt the clocks were not really conveying that through their simple ticking, it is just what the passing of time represents to Auden.

class has ended, so we're off.
Lauren and Jonny

Lamoo and Jonny from Australia