New children's commissioner pledges to 'rebuild' childhood
16/03/2021
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Dame Rachel de Souza wants help for children after the pandemic to be like post-war reconstruction.
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Sirben135
16/03/2021 10:31:06
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10
bbc
Am I the only person who is fed up with people who have never been in a war or even visited a war zone comparing the pandemic to a war? These comparisons are ridiculous and self-dramatising nonsense. Yes there are some problems and challenges as a result of the pandemic but to compare it to reconstruction after the wholesale destruction of life and infrastructure of WW2 is insulting.
Do you mean playing Fortnite or Minecraft all day for months isn't like a real war?!
Any comparison with war is purely the financial and social costs of closing down everything. You could at least have a pint during WW2.
Agreed. It's like Brexiters who would argue "we won WW2, we'll survive Brexit" as if the 2 things are vaguely comparable.
Technically at a cellular level it is a war between your body and what can be described as a parasite, you are being invaded and your body mounts an immunological defence against that invasion. If you could see it happening at the microscopic level Matrix style in real time I should imagine it very much looks like a war zone.
You are not the only person by any means.
The same thing goes for "mental health". I am glad to see that mental health is finally getting the attention it needs.
But there are many people declaring they are "struggling with their mental health" when in reality they are simply disappointed about something. These people are trivializing the problems people with genuine medical concerns face.
The same thing goes for "mental health". I am glad to see that mental health is finally getting the attention it needs.
But there are many people declaring they are "struggling with their mental health" when in reality they are simply disappointed about something. These people are trivializing the problems people with genuine medical concerns face.
We are all veterans of the war on Christmas amirite?
Well the aftermath of WW2 is all the legacy that the UK has left and talking about the war riles up older generations that the conservatives depend on for votes.
Agree wholeheartedly.
Children had a mixed experience during WW2. Many were separated from their parents by evacuation and had mixed experiences whilst others life went on pretty much as usual. Adults on the whole had far more freedom than we have had for the last year. Rationing meant food shortage, but improved health.
Able bodied had more employment than before the war.
So for many the pandemic worse than the war.
Able bodied had more employment than before the war.
So for many the pandemic worse than the war.
I was about to post the same after reading the article. Yes, absolutely.
It's a bit like the outcry about 'Austerity' isn't it?
I lived in the real Austerity in a ruined country; could many of todays handwringers have coped without counselling?
I lived in the real Austerity in a ruined country; could many of todays handwringers have coped without counselling?
Ignorant jingoism is the UK staple. Sad but true - ask murdoch.
Oh here we go again, another tzar just like the multitude before. Get the parents off booze, drugs and gambling. They need to take responsibility. Giving them more and more like free meals just means they take even less interest in their childlings.
How would you achieve that? Would you support a ban on the insane level of adverts for gambling, put up the price of booze and fund social care properly so that intervention for children of addicts get help early, or is that all too 'Nanny State' for everyone on this comments page?
Supporting marriage and nuclear families
will go a long way to fix the deteriorating mental health of millennials' offspring
will go a long way to fix the deteriorating mental health of millennials' offspring
That's right chap, time for you to get off the booze, drugs and gambling and go parent your kids.
Why do you support advertising of gambling, advertising and provision of cheap alcohol? Advertising that works by using subtle means of manipulating people's minds?
Think her biggest fight will be with the woke left who do not seem to want to let kids be kids and explore the world at their own pace and in their own way.
Instead of learning my curiosity and play it just seem to a forced indoctrinating of woke ideals
Instead of learning my curiosity and play it just seem to a forced indoctrinating of woke ideals
Yawn... lets crowbar woke/left/indoctrination into a topic....
Not sure you know what woke means there eh fella. Bit of equality for all is really harming the young-uns prospects.....
On the contrary, it is precisely the woke left that favours this. But also they want everyone to have access to education and training.
"Rebuilding childhood" they said - and not a word about chasing each other round a park and climbing trees and getting dirty and scuffing their knees; no, it's all about getting GCSEs.
Generally as soon as they start chasing each other round a park and climbing trees and getting dirty, someone comes along and tells them to stop. Then, when they do stop and play on their phones or games consoles instead, the same people say they need to put down their devices and get outdoors. Whatever they do, they're criticised.
Absolutely. The last thing the children need is the intervention of these idiots - the policy needs to be for the tory bullies to back right off and let the children be children after months and months of treating them like battery hens cooped up indoors. Let them out to play and furnish the libraries with a more generous stock of free books for them and much longer opening hours.
That sounds like me when i was a child and i will tell you now it never did me any good. I played football pretty much morning til night and left school with an awful education and struggled ever since. It would have been easier for me to make a living from crime rather than struggle by all these years the way i have. Education is important and the sooner the majority realise the better.
London for eg needs many, many more large parks that at least mimic nature, where children can play properly.
Have children (and adults) got enough access to fresh air, open space and nature? I don’t think so. Private property has more rights than children do. Except in Scotland.
What a load of rubbish. Anyone who rises to a senior position like this has no idea what problems most children face. Just another virtue signalling title.
Why am I sceptical ?
My parents lived nearby while sons were young, now families are kept apart by Covid and grandparent role is more limited. No calls for toddler-sitting at a moment's notice, no chance for young parents to take time out together. We aren't even in the same country and neither are the other grandparents. Add furlough insecurity and young parents need lots of support and reassurance, not just kids.
Oh please ....
let’s nanny everyone shall we from birth through to death?
If young parents “need lots of support”, perhaps they shouldn’t be parents?
They need to grow a backbone and grow up!
let’s nanny everyone shall we from birth through to death?
If young parents “need lots of support”, perhaps they shouldn’t be parents?
They need to grow a backbone and grow up!
How does she intend to do that? How can she give back all the milestones, the life events, the fun and excitement they've been forced to miss?
Nice little soundbite, but completely meaningless.
Nice little soundbite, but completely meaningless.
Firstly need to get some parents just to take responsibility for their own offspring. It is not the governments or schools responsibility to bring your kids up, it is the yours.
There is rightly support where needed, but the buck stops with parents.
There is rightly support where needed, but the buck stops with parents.
Well said! At the time I read this post it is 40+ve votes : 4-ve votes. That is 10:1 agreeing parental responsibility is key & not relying on the govt. / teachers etc.
So how come when I watch the news (& not just the BBC) there is a never-ending stream of do-gooders criticizing the govt. for not doing the parent's jobs for them & very few voices given the same airtime with contrasting views?
So how come when I watch the news (& not just the BBC) there is a never-ending stream of do-gooders criticizing the govt. for not doing the parent's jobs for them & very few voices given the same airtime with contrasting views?
So in summary you're saying that if a child has bad parents - tough
It's not anyone else's problem.
What then happens when these disadvantaged children grow up?
It's not anyone else's problem.
What then happens when these disadvantaged children grow up?
but successive governments have removed this responsibility from parents, thinking they were helping, where in fact the opposite is true, we have made it worse, parents no longer are allowed responsibility for their children, the government is there picking up the pieces
Stage 1 - We provide a welfare state, safety net for those in dire need. GOOD
Stage 2 - Some people make life choices based on welfare availability. OKAY'ish
Stage 3 - We can't stigmatise those in stage 2. MMMM
Stage 4 - People get very savvy at exploiting welfare system. NOT GOOD
Stage 5 - Welfare attitude and consumerism combine and it's now a right, and the squeaky wheel gets the oil.
Stage 6 ?
Stage 2 - Some people make life choices based on welfare availability. OKAY'ish
Stage 3 - We can't stigmatise those in stage 2. MMMM
Stage 4 - People get very savvy at exploiting welfare system. NOT GOOD
Stage 5 - Welfare attitude and consumerism combine and it's now a right, and the squeaky wheel gets the oil.
Stage 6 ?
Well spoken ! Where was Marcus Radford's father when he was growing up without enough to eat ?
Remove state schools. Put the responsibilities on the parents where they only belong. Do gooders who want to interfere, socially engineer, can run charity help with their own cash. Parents feed children their responsibility. Parents clothe children their responsibility. Parents dump children on the state rather than educate them. Not acceptable.
Only some parents have the skills to teach their children at home. Some cannot afford the tech for online schooling. Many are trying to work from home full-time themselves, in small crowded homes, while one or more children are learning online - sometimes with only one laptop between them.
New children's commissioner versus social media. Only one winner there.
Social media is the biggest force for evil ever invented, detrimental to everyone with little or no positives. If the Government are truly interested in improving a childs life they could do a lot worse than ban social media. Even banning anonymity online would be a great start, you want to say something controversial? Fine, your photo and real name should be visible.
Very ambitious.
If we can make an impact on poverty, low educational achievement, poor housing, job insecurity, low pay, addiction, unsafe streets....
... and support families all at the same time.
It'll be easy.
If we can make an impact on poverty, low educational achievement, poor housing, job insecurity, low pay, addiction, unsafe streets....
... and support families all at the same time.
It'll be easy.
We built dens, built rafts, went camping, played tag etc etc.
Children now are so confused whether they are this or that.
Please let them enjoy their childhood- if they do they are much more likely to succeed and their mental health will be much improved!.
Children now are so confused whether they are this or that.
Please let them enjoy their childhood- if they do they are much more likely to succeed and their mental health will be much improved!.
Must be loads of engineers who started out by damming a stream, creating a go-cart from a pram or an underground bunker from a few bits of corrugated iron and sand bags - no imagination these days its been superseded by a Z Box or whatevs.
Everyone has suffered due to the pandemic, and a competition for who it has affected worst is not helpful.
Every part of society is going to want, and probably be able to justify, having more money spent on it. But resources are finite.
Every part of society is going to want, and probably be able to justify, having more money spent on it. But resources are finite.
Where is the parental responsibility in all this? I'm heartily sick of paying for other people's children throughout their lives. Why are they having kids if they can't pay for them, teach them basic morals or guide them in life. We should not promote a 'nanny state'.
Really? So all the people who were in decent jobs and financially stable deciding to have kids some years ago don’t deserve help when a global pandemic ripped through the economy? Don’t call people bad parents for not being able to predict the future (not even a parent myself, just capable of common sense)
Another one pulling up the draw bridge. What is it worth old people these days, so uncaring and selfish.
You aren't Aggy. But maybe you would like to come front and centre for the campaign for a living wage for all. Because until we pay wages that cover the cost of living in this country, WORKING FAMILIES need to claim UC. Maybe we could rephrase nanny state as "state that doesn't deny children opportunities because some adults don't like the life choices the parents make".
Full of spite. I'll bet you've had more luck getting where you are than you realize.
Those children will probably end up working to support the needs of people like you when you are elderly. Not all childless people are wealthy, you know.
Hopefully play groups will come back. Many pre school children haven't socialised with their peers properly for a year now
Free school meals...more Universal Credit blah blah blah. When will this government and the other parties realise that all these free handouts are pretty much what has destroyed this country. It just fuels the sense of entitlement and takes away personal responsibilities. The more they give, the more people want. I despair.
What is next. My kids haven't got a winter coat, that's OK the government (tax payers) will supply. Why not let the the tax payer pay for everything. Bet free school meals for all during the summer holidays.
Your point would be a valid one if there were more jobs available that paid a decent living wage.
It's not like when I was a kid and you could buy a house or get a decent council place.
Now it's either you've got money or you rely on some government support. The gap between the haves/ have nots is too big.
It's not like when I was a kid and you could buy a house or get a decent council place.
Now it's either you've got money or you rely on some government support. The gap between the haves/ have nots is too big.
When will people like you realise that a child shouldn't go hungry because another adult doesn't like his/her parents choices. Think about what you are SAYING. Hungry children don't learn well. Therefore your attitude is to deprive children who are already disadvantaged and to undermine their abilities by saying they shouldn't be fed and clothed. Do you want to rethink that.
No it was the collapse of the sub prime bank lending in 2008 that caused our current problems plus un fettered exploitation of workers in the gig economy and the dodging of taxes by multi national corporations
They give as little as possible, and ensure that employers can just pay gig workers, not offer proper jobs, so people have no reliable income, cannot afford a roof over their head or food for the week, have to work when ill. Employers with the greatest sense of entitlement you will ever come across.
Rebuild their childhood! It's only been a year!
Dame Rachel de Souza invoking post WW2 comparisons is absurd - can see the huge debt and profiteer spivs but where are the bombed buildings? the broken infrastructure? and rationing? do me a favour - should be a doddle by comparison. No! what you need now children, is Lederhosen, Hiking and "Tomorrow Belongs To Us"!
Bring back rationing, I don't remember many overweight kids then, and they were fitter.
Am I the only person who is fed up with people who have never been in a war or even visited a war zone comparing the pandemic to a war? These comparisons are ridiculous and self-dramatising nonsense. Yes there are some problems and challenges as a result of the pandemic but to compare it to reconstruction after the wholesale destruction of life and infrastructure of WW2 is insulting.
There not 'free' school meals they are taxpayer funded school meals Yet again somebody being lavish with money as long as its not their own
You'd rather the kids starved, would you?
Or pehaps they should get jobs cleaning chimneys from the inside, to keep you happy, and the money in your wallet...
I've got no kids, but I don't have a problem with some of my tax going to pay for free school meals.
Or pehaps they should get jobs cleaning chimneys from the inside, to keep you happy, and the money in your wallet...
I've got no kids, but I don't have a problem with some of my tax going to pay for free school meals.
Good old Tory attitude. "Your" money is not your own though. What you receive assumes that you will pay tax on it. How else can communal benefits be funded? If taxes are too high it is generally an indicator that wealth distribution is too uneven. I'm sure most would like to pay their way if there were sufficient jobs that paid a living wage in the first place.
Another who does not believe in society? All those millions of poor people in our society - just imagine what they would do if all welfare state and benefits were withdrawn. No housing, no food, no clean water, no warmth, & NO JOBS. Even the most law-abiding might be joining feral gangs that prey on the privileged. Back to worse than Dickensian conditions. A success for far-right ideology.
Why are free school dinners for poor kids a good idea?
Because poorly fed children don't concentrate well and become disruptive, dragging down the learning chances of every child in the class regardless of their wealth & parenting. How can you expect 29 kids to learn when the teacher has to deal with one throwing tantrums because their hungry and grouchy.
Because poorly fed children don't concentrate well and become disruptive, dragging down the learning chances of every child in the class regardless of their wealth & parenting. How can you expect 29 kids to learn when the teacher has to deal with one throwing tantrums because their hungry and grouchy.
Not sending children to school at the age of 4 would be a good start.
I agree - but under 4's need to have access to good play resources and picture books to encourage curiosity and play
Most European nations don't begin formal education until at least 6 1/2 years of age. They favour provision like the Kindergarten - a place to grow physically and socially at their own pace. Their schools use heursitic learning and find a way forward for all their pupils. We just tell our children that they are falling behind!
Yes, that’s right, Hitler Youth was the same sort of thing wasn’t it - political meddling outside of reasonable schooling
You'll get the sheep insisting youre wrong. But we have mengele style experimentation with the insistence on the face of evidence that its not dangerous. We have kids indoctrinated into the ways of the rona. We have it on TV all the time, subliminal messaging that you should wear masks.
Definitely the nazis have taken over.
Definitely the nazis have taken over.
I'd happily watch people starve if the choice was me suffering instead of them.
Next question?
Next question?
There are no starving children here - the kids in the UK are the most obese in Europe.
Come on Lizard!
There's a world of difference between helping those in need and providing help whether its needed or not.
These gifts of taxpayers money are the poison pills so loved by Brown; who will dare to take the heating allowance off pensioners who don't need it? And so the dependence grows. Worse, employers don't need to pay decent wages because the taxpayer will top up.
Demeaning to all.
There's a world of difference between helping those in need and providing help whether its needed or not.
These gifts of taxpayers money are the poison pills so loved by Brown; who will dare to take the heating allowance off pensioners who don't need it? And so the dependence grows. Worse, employers don't need to pay decent wages because the taxpayer will top up.
Demeaning to all.
Yes indeed.
There have been marvellous improvements, however, there are other changes that have been damaging and are causing new problems in the mental and social development of children.
I have simply suggested one solution to the problem.
There have been marvellous improvements, however, there are other changes that have been damaging and are causing new problems in the mental and social development of children.
I have simply suggested one solution to the problem.
Yes they have but not for the better.
Meaning what - exactly ? - is it progress that so many kids now suffer some kind of mental illness or are generally unhappy
In Scouting we specialise in building dens, sailing rafts , we are eager to get going again!
Maybe, but to be fair children havent, they still require, as small humans, to get outside, to play, with other small humans... to think anything differently shows you have very little clue about what children require
Not in HYS Mr Spok, everyone here is from the 40's you'd think, with some of their attitudes. Hiding behind their net curtains complaining about the yoof.
My nephews love getting out exploring and building stuff just because you obviously had a s sheltered upbringing
It was still like that in the 1980s until then sensationalist mass media (aka Rupert Murdock) really took off and now everyone has to be on alert for paedophiles and murderers. Result - the kids are not allowed out anymore.
For the last ignored and abused, rightless, minority, children, time has not brought enough positive changes or progression. UK attitudes to children have improved only slowly, and are way behind those of many other cultures that give far, far more weight to children's needs and rights.
It sounds as though she IS woke, all the emphasis is on education and more government spending, none on encouraging friendships, stepping back and allowing families to heal and flourish after extended families have been stopped from meeting each other for a year.
Nothing like "reconstructing the social security system in the wake of World War Two."
Fake news
Fake news
Whatever happened to parental responsibility ? Remember folks they are your children, not the Government's.
They are, but it wasn't parents that closed all the schools, leaving millions of parents balancing bringing in an income as well as home schooling, along with everything else involved in running a household. All while being allowed out 1 hour a day. As a parent im not after sympathy or financial support, but a little appreciation that not everyone was sat at home baking sourdough during lockdown.
But government wants to control how children are brought up. School is compulsory.
Longer school days and shorter holidays until the time is made up.
Easy.
Easy.
Important issue is that contractual obligations for schools and teaching staff include holidays. To go roughshod over their rights would be illegal and costly.
Teachers have been working on the homeschooling as well as providing those children in school with teaching. They are at risk of becoming burnt out as their work often continues beyond then end of the school day.
Extra is simply a no go.
Teachers have been working on the homeschooling as well as providing those children in school with teaching. They are at risk of becoming burnt out as their work often continues beyond then end of the school day.
Extra is simply a no go.
You'd rather the kids starved, would you?
Or pehaps they should get jobs cleaning chimneys from the inside, to keep you happy, and the money in your wallet...
I've got no kids, but I don't have a problem with some of my tax going to pay for free school meals.
Or pehaps they should get jobs cleaning chimneys from the inside, to keep you happy, and the money in your wallet...
I've got no kids, but I don't have a problem with some of my tax going to pay for free school meals.
You probably think "Woke" is an insult, too, don't you?
To want to help out those less advantaged than oneself is not 'virtue signalling'.
Rebuild their childhood! It's only been a year!
The problem goes back a long way. Even just after WW2 many city children were in families that still had wider family living in rural areas. Even in cities people kept animals and grew veg in their gardens (before high rise living took hold). That connection with nature has being lost for many - and the further mankind drifts from nature the more unnatural and mentally disturbed it becomes.
Social media is the biggest force for evil ever invented, detrimental to everyone with little or no positives. If the Government are truly interested in improving a childs life they could do a lot worse than ban social media. Even banning anonymity online would be a great start, you want to say something controversial? Fine, your photo and real name should be visible.
So why are you commenting using a pseudonym on what is ostensibly a form of social media? (Yes, I am doing the same - but I'm not complaining about it while using it.)
"ban social media"
This sounds a lot like certain other countries that don't value their citizens' freedoms. Are you really saying this? Are all the people thumbing up your comment really supporting this? Careful what you wish for.
This sounds a lot like certain other countries that don't value their citizens' freedoms. Are you really saying this? Are all the people thumbing up your comment really supporting this? Careful what you wish for.
For what it's worth, any party with this policy on their manifesto would get my vote.
Why? So the Left, who preach about freedom, can close down any dissent by personally attacking anyone who doesn't agree with them?
This is the parents responsibility to resolve. Both my wife and I work full time and had to home school and my son is no further behind than he would have been at school. The only concern I have is the lack of time he has had to make new friends as it was his first year at secondary school. If parents didn’t home school properly then that’s their fault
Parental responsibility... steady on with that crazy radical idea..
Children's mental health and welfare has suffered as they were denied, sport and social interaction but for some little will change in their lives of poor food and too much screen time.
Anyone who has travelled to real poor parts of the world can see the UK's poverty is not economic but moral and educational. More free school meals and nanny state will not change that. Good parenting will.
Anyone who has travelled to real poor parts of the world can see the UK's poverty is not economic but moral and educational. More free school meals and nanny state will not change that. Good parenting will.
So, this is what it has come to.
Decades of tinkering around with education, social media in place of conversation and all the other ills of our progressive society.
I've never felt so removed from young people as now.
Driven to school, no local interaction, barricaded schools, no wonder they get in such a state.
Decades of tinkering around with education, social media in place of conversation and all the other ills of our progressive society.
I've never felt so removed from young people as now.
Driven to school, no local interaction, barricaded schools, no wonder they get in such a state.
It is true social media and computer gaming have been a disaster for young people and their social development. 1 year of lockdowns has seriously exacerbated and sped up that trend. So few kids now play outside with friends. It is all very bad news for the future direction of society as a whole.
Before all that took over, children were so often sexually harassed or abused when out and about. Every child knew where the neighbourhood perverts lived, who would pay a few pennies for sexual favours. It was common for young girls to be grabbed and assaulted one way or another by older boys or men, walking home from school or when out playing. Or to be flashed at. Parents are more aware now.
Am I the only person who is fed up with people who have never been in a war or even visited a war zone comparing the pandemic to a war? These comparisons are ridiculous and self-dramatising nonsense. Yes there are some problems and challenges as a result of the pandemic but to compare it to reconstruction after the wholesale destruction of life and infrastructure of WW2 is insulting.
This is a no brainer, what do these people get paid for?. My kids just want their life back, they don't want to be surveyed to death they would just like to get back to school trips, residential visits, normal school days and all the fun educational stuff they have lost which are the rights of passage we all went through, doesn't need to get more complex than that.
There are many children who love learning on their own, once they are taught how to learn. Many find school education very boring, it is often very badly done (online and in school). Many dread going back to school.
I support any help that the government want to give to children.
Children are our future.
But also they need to help women. You know, the women who give birth to children.
The government don't really care.
But I do support any help that the government want to give to children.
Definitely on topic, unless you want to be vindictive again ???
Children are our future.
But also they need to help women. You know, the women who give birth to children.
The government don't really care.
But I do support any help that the government want to give to children.
Definitely on topic, unless you want to be vindictive again ???
Like everything else the government have been involved with it will be a load of hot air and lip service.
The 'kids' will thrive in the future in spite of the government not because of them.
I have every confidence that they will go on to great things having seen what a total shambles the grown ups have been during this whole so called pandemic. They certainly cannot make the world a worse place.
The 'kids' will thrive in the future in spite of the government not because of them.
I have every confidence that they will go on to great things having seen what a total shambles the grown ups have been during this whole so called pandemic. They certainly cannot make the world a worse place.
Am I the only person who is fed up with people who have never been in a war or even visited a war zone comparing the pandemic to a war? These comparisons are ridiculous and self-dramatising nonsense. Yes there are some problems and challenges as a result of the pandemic but to compare it to reconstruction after the wholesale destruction of life and infrastructure of WW2 is insulting.
Remooooooan
Good old Tory attitude. "Your" money is not your own though. What you receive assumes that you will pay tax on it. How else can communal benefits be funded? If taxes are too high it is generally an indicator that wealth distribution is too uneven. I'm sure most would like to pay their way if there were sufficient jobs that paid a living wage in the first place.
You'd rather the kids starved, would you?
Or pehaps they should get jobs cleaning chimneys from the inside, to keep you happy, and the money in your wallet...
I've got no kids, but I don't have a problem with some of my tax going to pay for free school meals.
Or pehaps they should get jobs cleaning chimneys from the inside, to keep you happy, and the money in your wallet...
I've got no kids, but I don't have a problem with some of my tax going to pay for free school meals.
We are animals. The urge to reproduce is overwhelming for most people. Perhaps anyone who is unlikely to earn, say 20% above the average, should be forcibly neutered before breeding age.
Nothing like "reconstructing the social security system in the wake of World War Two."
Fake news
Fake news
Less political and religious indoctrination in schools for a start.
It is parents duty to teach religious and moral values...the schools
It is parents duty to teach religious and moral values...the schools
The problem with that is that many do not because they have none of their own.
So, this is what it has come to.
Decades of tinkering around with education, social media in place of conversation and all the other ills of our progressive society.
I've never felt so removed from young people as now.
Driven to school, no local interaction, barricaded schools, no wonder they get in such a state.
Decades of tinkering around with education, social media in place of conversation and all the other ills of our progressive society.
I've never felt so removed from young people as now.
Driven to school, no local interaction, barricaded schools, no wonder they get in such a state.
I think you'll find the majority kids are playing with their friends the whole time they're playing games. And while I agree more time outside is essential, it is not for the reasons you suggest. I think you have misunderstood what children actually do.
I'd say that road traffic levels are the biggest thing stopping kids playing outside in towns and cities. Could do with bringing back the concept of 'play streets' more widely, where cars are banned between, say, 3-6pm to make it safer for kids to play outside.
"Rebuilding childhood" they said - and not a word about chasing each other round a park and climbing trees and getting dirty and scuffing their knees; no, it's all about getting GCSEs.
Generally as soon as they start chasing each other round a park and climbing trees and getting dirty, someone comes along and tells them to stop. Then, when they do stop and play on their phones or games consoles instead, the same people say they need to put down their devices and get outdoors. Whatever they do, they're criticised.
Who are the people telling them to stop - nobody would criticise kids for getting exercise outdoors - where as addiction to devices is a real issue
You'll get the sheep insisting youre wrong. But we have mengele style experimentation with the insistence on the face of evidence that its not dangerous. We have kids indoctrinated into the ways of the rona. We have it on TV all the time, subliminal messaging that you should wear masks.
Definitely the nazis have taken over.
Definitely the nazis have taken over.
Easy solution!!!
Mums at home looking after kids-this is where we have failed-playing outside-conkers-picking blackberries-feeding ducks-mending your bike-but not today, just sit them in front of a screen or put them in the kennels(sorry playgroup)
Mums at home looking after kids-this is where we have failed-playing outside-conkers-picking blackberries-feeding ducks-mending your bike-but not today, just sit them in front of a screen or put them in the kennels(sorry playgroup)
So your easy solution is basically more ageism and sexism - any other pearls of prejudice you would like to include in this solution?
‘Mums at home’, wow, don’t you realise most mums go to work. Both parents look after their children!
Why not the dads? And if wages matched housing costs, perhaps both parents wouldn't need to spend so many hours at work and have more time for their kids? Hell, we could all do with less time slaving away at work and more time with family/friends. Probably why productivity is low
Mums, is it? Not dads?
The disruption to children was not due to the pandemic. It was due to political decisions and pandering to militant teachers and their unions.
Yawn. The predictable union/militant/teacher soundbite. Just keep laughing at yourself.
You mean to tell me that the Tory party who stood up to the militant unions of the 70s were terrified of the teacher unions. In the end political decisions taken by the current tory government which were wrong! You can choose to blame the unions but you would be wrong.
Children are resilient, they will play games with rubble in the middle of a war zone. There’s too much hand-wringing about children’s mental health, my age group of 70-80 are simply ignored unless we are in a care home.
Oh boo hoo snowflake! We've just trashed our economy. Put thousands of businesses under. Put hundreds of thousands out of work. Killed thousands of non COVID patients and disrupted education for millions of children to protect you and you're STILL the victim!
Yes - they did do that during the war. During the pandemic they haven't been allowed to play with other children for several months. Of course many wartime fears were not applicable, but lockdowns are still testing resilience in unprecedented ways, so some hand-wringing is appropriate.
Selfish, frightened people your age are telling themselves children are resilient in order to assuage what little conscience they might have about the incredible damage that has been done to so many children.
Decent people want children and young people to have the same, if not better, opportunities that they enjoyed, even if it means a bit more risk to themselves.
Decent people want children and young people to have the same, if not better, opportunities that they enjoyed, even if it means a bit more risk to themselves.
You'd rather the kids starved, would you?
Or pehaps they should get jobs cleaning chimneys from the inside, to keep you happy, and the money in your wallet...
I've got no kids, but I don't have a problem with some of my tax going to pay for free school meals.
Or pehaps they should get jobs cleaning chimneys from the inside, to keep you happy, and the money in your wallet...
I've got no kids, but I don't have a problem with some of my tax going to pay for free school meals.
That's the choice before all those people who are so self-centred, is it?
Not sending children to school at the age of 4 would be a good start.
I blame PowerPoint for the yawning chasm between ambition and delivery.
We've raised three decades of project managers that believe presenting something in PowerPoint is three quarters of their job done.
We've raised three decades of project managers that believe presenting something in PowerPoint is three quarters of their job done.
So, we finally have an admission that the government, with the connivance of a selfish and cowardly society, has buggered up the lives of our children: who are our future.
I'm 63, single, and hardly affected by lockdowns. But I still have the decency, and courage, to maintain that, if it had been my call, schools and universities would have carried on as normal for the last year.
I'm 63, single, and hardly affected by lockdowns. But I still have the decency, and courage, to maintain that, if it had been my call, schools and universities would have carried on as normal for the last year.
Oh, Davie, you are funny.
We know you weren't affected by lockdowns - on the beach or out marching, weren't you?
We know you weren't affected by lockdowns - on the beach or out marching, weren't you?
Less political and religious indoctrination in schools for a start.
It is parents duty to teach religious and moral values...the schools
It is parents duty to teach religious and moral values...the schools
The problem goes back a long way. Even just after WW2 many city children were in families that still had wider family living in rural areas. Even in cities people kept animals and grew veg in their gardens (before high rise living took hold). That connection with nature has being lost for many - and the further mankind drifts from nature the more unnatural and mentally disturbed it becomes.
Free school meals...more Universal Credit blah blah blah. When will this government and the other parties realise that all these free handouts are pretty much what has destroyed this country. It just fuels the sense of entitlement and takes away personal responsibilities. The more they give, the more people want. I despair.
So you think it is acceptable for a child to freeze because you don't like their parent's choices. What right do you have to deny a child warmth in the UK in the 21st century?
They used to provide winter clothing vouchers.. a social worker would feel your coat and if it was too thin would award you a voucher for a new one.. all stopped because people complained it was demeaning/limiting free choice, so cash was awarded whichs sometimes used for the purpose, sometimes to pay off crippling debts because credit isn't properly regulated and we live in a consumer culture
yes better to let them starve and freeze ~ are there no workhouses?
Bet you wish you were so poor you could also take advantage of getting a 'handout' to buy a second-hand coat for your child. Or the wonderful experience of going hungry so your child can eat. Remember that many going through this, and it is not fun, are actually tax payers themselves.
It sounds as though she IS woke, all the emphasis is on education and more government spending, none on encouraging friendships, stepping back and allowing families to heal and flourish after extended families have been stopped from meeting each other for a year.
Am I the only person who is fed up with people who have never been in a war or even visited a war zone comparing the pandemic to a war? These comparisons are ridiculous and self-dramatising nonsense. Yes there are some problems and challenges as a result of the pandemic but to compare it to reconstruction after the wholesale destruction of life and infrastructure of WW2 is insulting.
Technically at a cellular level it is a war between your body and what can be described as a parasite, you are being invaded and your body mounts an immunological defence against that invasion. If you could see it happening at the microscopic level Matrix style in real time I should imagine it very much looks like a war zone.
I support any help that the government want to give to children.
Children are our future.
But also they need to help women. You know, the women who give birth to children.
The government don't really care.
But I do support any help that the government want to give to children.
Definitely on topic, unless you want to be vindictive again ???
Children are our future.
But also they need to help women. You know, the women who give birth to children.
The government don't really care.
But I do support any help that the government want to give to children.
Definitely on topic, unless you want to be vindictive again ???
Never preach to parents again and tell them their education is more important than anything. You’ve lost that right.
When a family want a couple for valued time together, so be it. Fining them moving forward will be immoral.
When a family want a couple for valued time together, so be it. Fining them moving forward will be immoral.
Maybe the policy she needs to rebuild childhood should include children be taught discipline, manners and respect..
The disruption to children was not due to the pandemic. It was due to political decisions and pandering to militant teachers and their unions.
As opposed to: Stay home - Protect the NHS - Save lives dogma which you probably bought into?
What a sad individual...
Get some time in
Get some time in
Yes, but the children who now spend their times damming streams and creating go-carts just wouldn't get the engineering job these days, because they now need to compete against other children from all over the world and playing building games just doesn't cut it.
Don't blame the children for doing their best in a system and society that the adults created for them.
Don't blame the children for doing their best in a system and society that the adults created for them.
Am I the only person who is fed up with people who have never been in a war or even visited a war zone comparing the pandemic to a war? These comparisons are ridiculous and self-dramatising nonsense. Yes there are some problems and challenges as a result of the pandemic but to compare it to reconstruction after the wholesale destruction of life and infrastructure of WW2 is insulting.
You are not the only person by any means.
The same thing goes for "mental health". I am glad to see that mental health is finally getting the attention it needs.
But there are many people declaring they are "struggling with their mental health" when in reality they are simply disappointed about something. These people are trivializing the problems people with genuine medical concerns face.
The same thing goes for "mental health". I am glad to see that mental health is finally getting the attention it needs.
But there are many people declaring they are "struggling with their mental health" when in reality they are simply disappointed about something. These people are trivializing the problems people with genuine medical concerns face.
This is the parents responsibility to resolve. Both my wife and I work full time and had to home school and my son is no further behind than he would have been at school. The only concern I have is the lack of time he has had to make new friends as it was his first year at secondary school. If parents didn’t home school properly then that’s their fault
crowman
The entire nation has locked down to protect the over 70s who have already lived a life - thought that would qualify as 'doing something' for your age group.
People who idolise Churchill should remember that he evacuated children to save them from the bombing but left the older citizens to take their chances!
The entire nation has locked down to protect the over 70s who have already lived a life - thought that would qualify as 'doing something' for your age group.
People who idolise Churchill should remember that he evacuated children to save them from the bombing but left the older citizens to take their chances!
Putting children first and investing in our future DEFINITELY needs to be our priority.
How have we slipped so far from this viewpoint, to the point where children are now seem to be seen as little more than cash machines to pay off our current borrowings?
How have we slipped so far from this viewpoint, to the point where children are now seem to be seen as little more than cash machines to pay off our current borrowings?
I disagree. The problems we have are children "learning" off their peers more than from their elders. That probably goes back about two/three generations now. Youth has been exploited by consumerism and the music, film and TV industries. They're the ones seeing the young as cash cows. However, I do think education is far too centered on filling jobs rather than induce a love of learning.
Yawn. The predictable union/militant/teacher soundbite. Just keep laughing at yourself.
Oooh. Now we've moved up to dogma. Just keep laughing at yourself.
Dame Rachel de Souza invoking post WW2 comparisons is absurd - can see the huge debt and profiteer spivs but where are the bombed buildings? the broken infrastructure? and rationing? do me a favour - should be a doddle by comparison. No! what you need now children, is Lederhosen, Hiking and "Tomorrow Belongs To Us"!
Clueless hot air from one of Gove and Agnew's best mates. Previous 'alleged' scandals for De Souza include:
Getting advance notice when her schools were going to have OFSTED.
Forcibly taking over schools when communities/parents/students are completely opposed.
Spending money on her office furnishings rather than on pupils.
Tory Cronyism...yet again...
Getting advance notice when her schools were going to have OFSTED.
Forcibly taking over schools when communities/parents/students are completely opposed.
Spending money on her office furnishings rather than on pupils.
Tory Cronyism...yet again...
Think her biggest fight will be with the woke left who do not seem to want to let kids be kids and explore the world at their own pace and in their own way.
Instead of learning my curiosity and play it just seem to a forced indoctrinating of woke ideals
Instead of learning my curiosity and play it just seem to a forced indoctrinating of woke ideals
In my day we only had an Xbox 360, Play Station 3 and, get this, a NON HD 32" flat screen TV in our bedrooms - kids today don't know how lucky they are !!
Teach gardening, cookery and how to think for yourself, including science and applied maths, plus how to use your native language well and how government works. No religious schools, no selection. Youth clubs, outdoor activities...
The above work. Endless initiatives like free schools, charter schools, standardised tests, etc created a patchwork mess of stress for kids to survive. Ditch them.
The above work. Endless initiatives like free schools, charter schools, standardised tests, etc created a patchwork mess of stress for kids to survive. Ditch them.
As opposed to: Stay home - Protect the NHS - Save lives dogma which you probably bought into?
Two completely productive counter arguments there. Well done, you win ??
crowman
The entire nation has locked down to protect the over 70s who have already lived a life - thought that would qualify as 'doing something' for your age group.
People who idolise Churchill should remember that he evacuated children to save them from the bombing but left the older citizens to take their chances!
The entire nation has locked down to protect the over 70s who have already lived a life - thought that would qualify as 'doing something' for your age group.
People who idolise Churchill should remember that he evacuated children to save them from the bombing but left the older citizens to take their chances!