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Written by Joanne Wallenstein

Published: 09 January 2019

Created: 09 January 2019

Last Updated: 09 January 2019

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Though the term anxiety conjures up uncomfortable associations with pounding hearts and sleepless nights, it turns out that a little bit of anxiety is a good thing. It’s anxiety that prevents us from oversleeping, missing deadlines and keeping commitments. Anxiety also protects us from dangerous activities that imperil our physical safety. So how can we use a little anxiety to help us succeed and prevent overwhelming anxiety from undermining us? Even more perplexing, how do we teach our children how to deal with their worries?

That was the subject of an informative talk from clinical social worker Kimberly Vale at a meeting sponsored by the PT Council and CHILD on Tuesday January 8 at Scarsdale Middle School. In a well-crafted presentation, Vale helped parents identify the signs of anxiety in their children and provided them with some tactics to address it.

Vale explained that anxiety is common among children, with one in eight children meeting the criteria for this mental illness and one in three teens afflicted. Vale explained anxiety as “an evolutionary imprint that protects us,” and “the body’s natural ability to detect danger.” She called it both “necessary and useful.”

However, when anxiety is intense, excessive and persistent and causes kids to avoid normal activities it becomes a problem. This crippling anxiety is out of proportion with the actual danger at hand and is long lasting.

How to deal with it? Vale says that constantly reassuring child that they have nothing to worry about or that they will be okay does not help a child to deal with their anxiety. In fact, this response on a parent’s part can feed their child’s anxiety rather than alleviate it.

Instead Vale recommended a series of tactics to normalize the anxiety and teach kids to combat it. She advocated teaching kids that the anxiety is a “false alarm that is going off,” and emphasizing that fears are temporary. She said, “We are not trying to make them (the fears) go away – just not letting them get in the way.” She tells her patients to give their anxiety a name like “Mr. Baloney,” and to learn to combat their anxious alter egos.

Rather than avoid anxiety-provoking situations, Vale recommended that parents give their kids a small taste of what scares them so that they can learn to cope. For instance, if your child is afraid of dogs, arrange a quick visit to a friend’s house where a dog is present and let the child get used to playing at a house with a dog.

She told parents to encourage their children to talk about their fears and to assure children that as a parent, you are on their team. Since Scarsdale has professional staff at each school, she recommended that parents with anxious children share their concerns with the child’s teacher or school psychologist so that the school staff can also help the child to cope with anxiety.

When to find a therapist? If the anxiety becomes pervasive and prevents children from doing their school work, attending parties, participating in sports – or doing what they want to do – Vale recommended getting some professional help, especially from the personnel at the Scarsdale Schools.

Her talk was followed by a panel discussion with some of the district’s psychologists and youth outreach workers from Scarsdale Family Counseling Service. They are an impressive group and available to parents and kids. Director of Special Education Eric Rauschenbach introduced Leah Furst, Emily Vallario, Jenn Walker,Kristin Oliverio and Elliot Cohen, all available at district schools to assist parents and students confront anxiety.

Learn more from the following resources:

Find a therapist: www.abct.org

Parenting articles: https://childmind.org

“Helping Your Anxious Child: A Step-by-Step Guide for Parents" by Ronald M. Rapee PhD, Ann Wignall D. Psych, Susan Spence, PhD, Vanessa Cobham, PhD, Heidi Lyneham, PhD.

“Freeing Your Child Frm Obsessive Compulsive Disrder, Chansky, Tamar E.,PhD

App guide: https://psyberguides.org/apps

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Written by Joanne Wallenstein

Published: 16 January 2019

Created: 16 January 2019

Last Updated: 08 March 2021

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Two of Scarsdale’s representatives are making headlines this week. Now that Democrats control the House of Representatives, Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), who represents Scarsdale, has become the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. With growing suspicions about President Trump's private meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold hearings on Trump’s dealings with Russia. While on television on Monday, Engel said that the committee may have "no choice" but to subpoena an interpreter's notes from a private meeting in 2017 between President Trump and President Putin.

Engel said during an interview on CNN's "At This Hour" that he would prefer "not to have to look at what an interpreter wrote … But we may have no choice. We’ll have to see down the road what happens."

Engel said, “We will be holding hearings on the mysteries swirling around Trump’s bizarre relationship with Putin and his cronies, and how those dark dealings affect our national security.”

Scarsdale’s representative in the NYS State Senate Andrea Stewart-Cousins was sworn in as the Democratic Majority Leader on January 9. She is the first woman, and the first black woman, to lead that chamber.

Under her leadership, the state senate passed legislation to improve New York State’s electoral system on Monday, January 14. New York consistently ranks as one of the worst voter turnout states in the nation. The senate passed a series of bills to establish early voting and no-excuse absentee voting, modernize and expand voter registration, impose limits on LLC contributions, extend Primary Election voting hours and ensure uniformity throughout the state.

In a press release from Cousins she says, “Government should be about breaking down barriers, which is why the Senate Democratic Majority is making it easier for those who are eligible to vote. We need more voices in our democracy, not fewer,” Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said. “Easing access to voting and having New Yorkers exercise their Constitutional right to have their voices heard shouldn’t be partisan or controversial. Other states have taken the lead on issues like early voting, same-day registration, pre-registration, and no-excuse absentee voting. It is time for New York State to catch up, so we can once again lead the way forward.”

The historic legislation passed by the Senate Democratic Majority includes:

Early Voting: This bill, S.1102 introduced by Chair of the Elections Committee, Senator Zellnor Myrie, will establish an Early Voting system to permit eligible voters in New York State to vote in person during a designated period.

Consolidation of Federal and State Primaries: This bill, S.1103 introduced by Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, will save taxpayer dollars and make state primary elections the same day as federal primary elections. It also ensures that New York State’s election law complies with the federal Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act.

Closing the LLC Loophole: This bill, S.1101, introduced by Senator Brian Kavanagh, will amend Election Law to hold LLC’s to the same aggregate contribution limit of $5,000 that applies to corporations. The amendment would require the disclosure of the identity and proportion of ownership of all direct and indirect owners of the membership interests in the LLC. This legislation will also amend the Election Law to require all contributions made to political committees or campaigns by an LLC be attributed to each member of the LLC in proportion to the member’s ownership interest.

Same-Day Voter Registration: This bill, S.1048 introduced by Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris, amends the constitution to remove the ten-day advance voter registration requirement, subject to second passage of the next legislature and approval by a statewide referendum.

No-Excuse Absentee Voting: This bill, S.1049 introduced by Senator Leroy Comrie will amend the state Constitution to allow for any voter to request to vote by mail without declaring reason subject to second passage of the next legislature and approval by a statewide referendum.

Voter Registration Transfers: This bill, S.1099, introduced by Senator David Carlucci, will require the Board of Elections to transfer the registration and enrollment of a voter to wherever they move in New York State.

Voter Pre-Registration: This bill, S.1100, introduced by Senator David Carlucci, will enable 16- and 17-year olds to pre-register to vote and requires local boards of education to adopt policies to promote student voter registration and pre-registration.

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Written by Joanne Wallenstein

Published: 18 December 2018

Created: 18 December 2018

Last Updated: 18 December 2018

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This month Scarsdale Middle Schoolers in 6th grade Butler house completed 1,000 Acts of Kindness. They were involved with helping people in the school and throughout the community.

As part of their project Butler 6 worked with Fountain 6, their sister house, to collect over 255 toys for the Children's Hospital at Montefiore. Students donated toys for Montefiore's Holiday toy drive. Next week the toys will be distributed to patients at the Children's Hospital Holiday Party.

In addition, Butler 6 started a new program called Adopt-a-Senior. For the holiday season each of the students in Jeanne-Marie Castiello’s social studies classes adopted a senior resident at the Schaffer Extended Care Center at Montefiore. Students purchased a gift for the 100 residents at Schaffer. Commenting on the program, Castiello said, "My students worked so hard this month. They did so many amazing acts like feeding the homeless, volunteering at various charities and of course the work with Montefiore. We teach them to be stewards of change, but it’s heartwarming to see 11 year olds taking action and making a difference in their own community."