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PSHEtalksforschoolsby Dr Aric SigmanThe Facts about AlcoholA new approach to alcohol education based on Dr Sigman’s bookAlcohol Nation: How to protect our children from today’s drinking cultureBody Image and the Pressuresof Physical Appearance‘Schoolchildren need body image lessons,’ recommends the House of Commons All PartyParliamentary Group on body image. Dr Sigman advises on how to prevent body dissatisfactionand eating disorders based on his biology paper ‘A Source of Thinspiration? - the biologicallandscape of media, body image and dieting’Managing Screen Time and Screen DependencyPupils of all ages are watching more recreational screen media than ever before and many arefinding it difficult to stop. But ICT or screen media should be a tool, not a burden or health risk,explains Dr SigmanParenting the Demanding GenerationBased on his book The Spoilt Generation, Dr Sigman explains how and why authoritativeparenting leads to better-adjusted and more competent children, the importance of authorityand boundaries in child development, and standing up to demanding childrenTalks for all year groups both single sex and co-ed,parents and teacherswww.aricsigman.com

What theschools say...MarlboroughCollege‘It was excellent andI’m delighted with thepositive feedback. We’dlike to have Aric again’Tonbridge School‘Aric’s talk had themhooked. He did notpatronise them, nordid he preach. He gavethem the facts in anentertaining andthought-provokingway, with just the rightamount of science -some of it cutting edge’St Mary’s School,Ascot‘Aric was brilliant today- again’British School in theNetherlands‘Memorable. Thestudents said theyfound it “amazing,awesome, cool! Learntso many new facts!”’Bedford School‘Brilliant. You really wereinspiring’Dragon School,Oxford‘Impressive’Haileybury School‘All the groups foundhim engaging, funny’The Facts about AlcoholThe Government urgently wants schools, parents,children and young people “to have openconversations about alcohol, to ultimately delaythe age at which young people start drinking”. Theearlier children learn about alcohol the less likelythey are to develop an alcohol problem later,research shows. Dr Sigman informs children of the dangers ofalcohol before it’s too late, with developmentally appropriatemessages that provide them with the skills to refuse alcohol.Pupils will understand:• Advertisers and the media want them to believe it’s cool to drink.• The truth behind celebrity drinking.• Why girls are at greater risk of health damage from drinking andmust always drink less than boys, even when they’re thesame size.• How drinking reduces judgment, increasing risk-taking and therisk of being killed or seriously injured on your bike.• Why alcohol reduces a boy’s strength, power and coordination.• How to understand and counter peer pressure.• The definition of ‘binge-drinking’.• Date rape - the truth about spiked drinks.Parents will understand:• What steps they can take to actively reduce their child’s risk ofbinge-drinking or developing an alcohol problem.• The best approach to adopt with their children towards alcohol.• How they can forge a joined-up approach to alcohol with otherparents and schools.• How to help children deal with peer pressure to drink.Body Image and thePressures of PhysicalAppearanceBody dissatisfaction has become so prevalent among girls andwomen that it is now being described as “a normative discontent”.And it’s appearing at increasingly younger ages. Nearly half ofthe three- to six-year-old girls in a study in the British Journal ofDevelopmental Psychology said they worry about being fat. Thereis also an alarming rise in the proportion of school-aged childrentaking anabolic steroids to build muscle and acquire a ‘six-pack’.‘School children need body image lessons,’ the House ofCommons All Party Parliamentary Group on body image hasrecommended. But how can we relieve these pressures orprevent them from developing in the first place? Focusingon preventing body dissatisfaction and eating disorders, this talkis based on Dr Sigman’s biology paper, A Source of Thinspiration?– the biological landscape of media, body image and dieting’(published in The Biologist, the journal of The Society of Biology and selected as the‘2012 Scientific Article’ for the 2012 Edexcel Biology A-level exam paper (ref: 6BI05/01).

Managing Screen Timeand Screen DependencyWhat theschools say...Screen ‘addiction’ is a term increasingly beingused by doctors to describe the growingnumber of children engaging in screen activitiesin a dependent manner. Whether it’s Facebook,the Internet or computer games, screen time is nolonger merely a cultural issue about how children spend theirleisure time, nor is it confined to concern over the educational valueor appropriate/inappropriate content. It has become a medicalissue. The talks are based on Dr Sigman’s medical paper Takinga View on Screen Time, published in the BMA/BMJ’s Archives ofDisease in Childhood, his report for the EU Parliament WorkingGroup, The Impact Of Screen Media On Children: a Eurovision forParliament, and his book Remotely Controlled.Pupils will understand:• How the amount of discretionary screen time they spend mayhave effects they didn’t expect.• How the over-use of electronic media may affect schoolperformance, academic achievement, physical and mental health,social skills and relationships.Parents and staff will understand:• How recreational screen time may affect cognitive skills, attention,brain development, literacy and academic achievement.• How much and what type of electronic media children should beusing before and after school hours, and at what ages.• What ‘multi-tasking’ does to children’s minds and brains.• What schools and parents should do together in deciding howmuch and what type of electronic media children should be using.Parenting theDemanding GenerationWestminster‘Excellent... the bestwe’ve had this term’The King’s School,Canterbury‘Perhaps you should becloned... your updatedmessage gave a wholenew twist to the stuffwe’ve thrown atthem. So it’s a bigthank you’Wellington College‘He got the balancebetween science,fun, seriousness,interactivity andhumour just right’Magdalen CollegeSchool, Oxford‘We all really enjoyedit... May I book you for2013 to deliver twotalks?’‘Contrary to popular understanding,‘authoritative’ parenting leads to better-adjusted,more competent children … at differentdevelopmental periods including preschool,school age and adolescence,’ concludes a recentlarge scale study and review by the Institute ofEducation. This talk explains why and how, and includes theimportance of authority and boundaries in child development andstanding up to our demanding children, based on Dr Sigman’sbook The Spoilt Generation. He also discusses the unconsciousmisperception that authority ‘versus’ sensitivity, love andcompassion are in some way mutually exclusive, and that byexerting authority, we in some way diminish the caring we wantchildren to have and the affection and trust we want to feel fromthem. Parenting includes not only parents, but ‘extended parents’ -the other figures of authority in a child’s life, including teachers. Thistalk emphasises the importance of a more joined-up approach todealing with children today.Uppingham School‘Your exciting talk...is still generatingpositive commentsfrom staff andstudents alike’Oundle School‘Excellent feedbackfrom pupils, parentsand colleagues’Latymer UpperSchool‘A great success’

AboutDr Aric SigmanDr Sigman is a Fellow of the Society of Biology,Associate Fellow of the British PsychologicalSociety and a recipient of the Science Council’sChartered Scientist award.He has worked on teenage health educationcampaigns with the Department of Health, and isthe author of four books on PSHE-relatedtopics, including Getting Physical, which won The Times Educational Supplement’sInformation Book Award. His biology paper on body image was the ‘2012 ScientificArticle’ for the 2012 Edexcel Biology A-level exam paper (ref: 6BI05/01).Dr Sigman has twice been invited to address the European Parliament Working Groupon the Quality of Childhood in the EU in Brussels, once on reducing alcohol misuseamong children and adolescents, and again on the impact of electronic media andscreen dependency. The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health invited DrSigman to speak on Alcohol and Electronic Media at its Annual Conference in 2012.Also in 2012, the EU Working Group published his report on the impact of electronicmedia and screen dependency, and in 2013, it will publish his second report onpreventing alcohol misuse among children and adolescents in the EU.An American, Dr Sigman has lived in Britain for many years. Beyond his credentials,he has to face health and wellbeing issues with his own four children, and finds it easyto connect with young people and children.He has a long history of health education work for children and young people,appearing on the BBC’s Going Live and then Live & Kicking for most of the 1990s. Healso wrote health and psychology columns for several BBC children’s and teenagemagazines. He currently writes the Brain and Behaviour column for The TimesEducational Supplement magazine TESpro.Dr Sigman travels abroad frequently to study childwellbeing and development in various culturesincluding Republic of Congo, Irian Jaya (WestPapua), North Korea, Bhutan, Iran, Mali,Borneo (right), Tonga, Turkmenistan, Myanmar(Burma), Laos, Vietnam, Bolivia, Burkina Faso,Far Eastern Siberia, Sumatra, South Korea,Cambodia, Chile, China and Japan amongst others.www.aricsigman.com