Checking-In: Parents with angry kids, cancer care, US vs Canada health care and a call to bring back the multiplication timetable

The Current's Executive Producer Jennifer Moroz joined Piya in studio for our Checking-In segment.

Angry Kids & Stressed Parents: Yesterday, we heard about some disturbing news about children's mental health. For the first time since this kind of data has been collected, more children are being diagnosed with mental health conditions than with physical ones. Parents confront children with high levels of anger, aggression, and other behaviour problems.

A new documentary called Angry Kids and Stressed Out Parents follows a handful of families hoping early childhood interventions -- including Positive Parenting Programs -- will help them and their children learn to manage things.

Stephen Wildesmith from Ottawa wrote in with these thoughts:

Time is the most valuable thing we can have in life, and it comes at a price that some parents are unwilling to pay. For 15 years I put being a parent and a wage earner above my needs and desires. My ex wife and I were sure to give our children the time and attention they deserved, and required. Respect emerges from this and you get well mannered happy young adults.

Danielle Wei from Toronto offered a more skeptical view:

Are angry kids the exclusive result of stressed out parents? I know a grandmother who has nothing but time and devotion to her granddaughter, but who is struggling with high levels of behaviour problems, such as angry and aggressive temper tantrums.

Cancer Rates: We have an update now on a story we brought you about about cancer rates. Chris Wild, director of the World Health Organization's cancer agency, predicted a surge in cancer rates globally over the next decade, led in part by an aging population.

The Canadian Partnership Against Cancer has just released its review of the country's cancer control systems, and it finds that older cancer patients are not receiving the same level of care as younger patients do.

• Dr. Heather Bryant is the group's vice-president of Cancer Control and we reached her at her office in Toronto.

US vs Canada Health Care: Last Friday, we brought you the story of a tale of two healthcare systems ... fueled by Doctor Danielle Martin's widely circulated testimony before the United States Senate.

After that testimony went viral, we invited Danielle Martin, the Vice President of Medical Affairs and Health System Solutions at Women's College Hospital to go toe-to-toe with Doctor Christopher Casscells, the Director of the Health Policy division at the Caesar Rodney Institute in Delaware to weigh the merits of the Canadian and American systems.

And then you weighed in. Judith Seymour from Estey's Bridge, Nova Scotia sent us these thoughts.

While I am sure that there is no one who advocates for the American system, I think it is time to admit that Medicare the Canadian Way may not be working as well as Dr. Martin in Toronto believes. Perhaps we should recognize that there are definite regional disparities and that wait times vary greatly from province to province, as does access to specific services, treatments and specialties.

Jim Streb from Nobleton, Ontario moved to Canada from the United States and offers this perspective.

My first child was born in the U.S., my last two in Canada. The contrasts are staggering. When my wife was pregnant with our daughter (in the U.S.), we had to pay the OB/GYN up front, and the cost only included ONE visit before birth, and the delivery. The births of my second and third children (both in Canada) included multiple tests and visits to medical offices due to possible complications. The Canadian health system is one of the reasons that I do not contemplate ever moving back to the U.S.

And Carolyn Gotay of Vancouver suggested we all take a step back to look at the bigger picture. She writes.

I found it very interesting that neither speaker mentioned the fact that both Canada and the US fall well behind other developed countries on almost every indicator of public health. Residents of countries such as Japan, Switzerland, and Australia live longer and healthier lives. Both the US and Canada need to look toward other models of health care.

Math Education: Last December, Canada got some bad news of a different sort when Canadian school children officially dropped off the Top Ten standings in world math education. And at the time, a lot of parents had a pretty good idea of what was to blame.

There's been a steady outcry around math education that ditched memorization of the multiplication table, and instead encourages kids to solve problems using different so-called "strategies." And the call for a return to the basics was answered, at least in part, in Alberta this week, when education minister Jeff Johnson announced that the multiplication table is on its way back to the curriculum.

• Physician and mom Nhung Tran-Davies led that drive with a petition that garnered more than 11,000 signatures. She was in Calmar, Alberta.

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This segment was produced by The Current's Peter Mitton and Gord Westmacott.