Parents gather to learn the latest on issues affecting the community's youth
By Miguel Morales miguel@theacorn.com

MIGUEL MORALES/Acorn Newspapers HOT TOPICS- Police officer James Wismar speaks with a group about MySpace during a special information session for parents presented by the PTSA Council at Santa Susana High School.

The Simi Valley PTA/PTSA Council brought concerned parents and community members together last week at Santa Susana High School to discuss four hotbutton topics affecting adolescents everywhere: bullying, diabetes, MySpace and teen drivers.

Simi Valley police officers and representatives from the Simi Health Services Department helped lead the evening's discussion, which gave parents the opportunity not only to ask questions, but also to share stories with each other.

Bullying can start early

Officer Donald Anderson, who is involved in the department's DARE program, began the discussion by speaking about bullying. The practice, he said, begins at a very young age and is prevalent in many age groups, not just teens.

"Bullying is trying to control someone by force," Anderson said. "It can have many names and it can happen to anyone- it even happens on the Internet. The real issue is how it is dealt with at home."

While grown-ups may not be able to stop all bullying, they can prevent it from escalating by teaching their kids how to properly deal with it, the officer said.

"I wish there was some magical answer to bullying, but there isn't," Anderson said.

Less activity,

more weight

Jean Borowsky, chairperson for Health Services, spoke to the parents about diabetes and about what parents should know to take better care of their children.

Parents can help prevent their children from getting Type II diabetes by making sure they're physically active and eating a nutritionally balanced diet, Borowsky said.

Although she pointed out that schools in Simi have made changes to their lunch menus to try to offer more nutritional foods to students, Borowsky reminded audience members that "15 percent of preschoolers are still overweight and 22 to 95 percent of schoolage children are overweight as well."

"Our children have unfortunately become more sedentary," Borowsky said. "They're sitting around a lot more, watching television, on the computer a lot more. They're playing their Game Boy a lot more, but they're not out running around getting exercise."

A higher number of students in Simi are being diagnosed with diabetes now than a few years ago, Borowsky said.

"I was there when the first elementary school student was brought into our school district with diabetes," she said. "Now I can't tell you how many we have."

Monitoring MySpace

Officer James Wismar covered the issue of Internet safety, urging parents to pay closer attention to how their children are spending their time online. The focus of his discussion was the well-known online interactive community MySpace.

Some kids are spending six to seven hours at a time on MySpace, Wismar said, with some of the most elaborate sites operated by elementary school students.

There are kids out there who know more about computers than most adults, he said. And while most of them are good kids, others out there are not.

"They are called the 'haters' and the 'pretenders' because that's what they do," Wismar said. "(Either) they write hate comments or you have kids pretending to be adults or adults pretending to be kids.

"If your kid can't handle bullying, don't let them go on MySpace," Wismar added, "because it's 'game on.'"

The best way to protect your kids is to know what they're doing and what sites they're visiting. Wismar said putting computers in common areas such as the living room or dining room is one way of supervising the time spent on MySpace.

Another way, he said, is to get a MySpace account themselves.

"Anyone can have a MySpace account, and the simplest way to know what your kids are doing on MySpace is for the parents to get on the site themselves," the officer said.

The advantage of having a MySpace account is that it allows parents to police the site, Wismar said, explaining that those without an account cannot freely navigate the electronic community.

What parents find once they open an account, he said, can be a major eye-opener.

"Many parents that thought they knew what their child was all about have found that their child is into drugs, or found that their child is college-bound when they thought their kid was a loser," Wismar said.

Reporting

reckless drivers

Lt. Joe May finished up the night's discussion with a presentation on the Sheriff's Department's Teen Traffic Offender program (STTOP), reminding parents that they have the authority to report reckless behavior and bad drivers they see around town.

According to May, 16 to 18yearolds make up about 12 percent of the driving population, but they're involved in 25 percent of collisions.

First-year drivers are the most likely to be involved in an accident. Most of those are single-vehicle accidents caused by driver error, he said.

This year alone there have been three fatal car accidents in Simi Valley, two of them involving teenagers.

"They just don't have the experience on the roadway," May said.

The department's STTOP program offers residents the opportunity to report dangerous drivers in their neighborhood, May said.

The caller should provide the plate number and a description of the vehicle and the person driving the vehicle, he explained.

To report reckless behavior and other bad driving practices, call (877) 310-7867.

For more information on diabetes go to www.nih.gov or www.cdc.gov.