mono

But this is how the human race attempts to find balance. We go too far one way then too far the other. Hopefully we then work out the correct path ahead. In the past we were too relaxed and casual with how we did things and exposed children to too much risk and danger. Now we are going too far the other way but we will work it out in the long run. I certainly don't think though that we should just carry on as we were, hitting kids when they misbehave, letting them eat lead and fall off trampolines every weekend. Some progress is required surely.

lilybilly101

I agree.......it's a process.....and lots of progress has been made I believe. I really dislike the gloom and doom merchants who say this generation are ruined....it's rubbish. Kids get crap press.......there are plenty of teens doing wonderful things but we don't here about them!

Doesn't every generation do the old, 'In my day...', and 'Kids today....'?

Kids get bad press I think, especially in Britain. Having worked with many of the buggers over several years, I think they are really just the same as they always were. Some are absolutely fantastic and some are little s***ts.

brits1

lol just going to "say" that myself....you cannot seem to do anything without having to go through hoops and loops....nope...not going into anything further with this subject...with this horrible weather were are having my mood is bad enough as it is...lol.

brits1

You cannot take a mobile phone into our public swimming centre or into the library...HSE I was told...my Oh is in HSE he said "rubbish"....

Beedubya

I don't know about the library here but I know you can't take your mobile into the swimming pools in case you take a pic of children - yeah like even your own kids, why are we all seen as potential paedophiles?

I read a story yesterday in the newspaper, some man is suing BA as they don't allow men to sit next to kids on the plane. He was in the middle of his pregnant wife and a 12 year old boy and they made him move seats!!!

sammyz

Japan is just as bad..if not worse at times! Every couple of weeks the kindergarten I send the twins to has the mums doing workshops on how to correctly wash your hands.......a very deep sigh..........

lilybilly101

So funny. They're obsessed with germs here in Canada too. H1N1 has made it so much bloody worse. There's asbestos in some school ceilings but they've forked up enough sanitizer for the entire bloody country.

And they're not allowed to have snow ball fights in the play ground. What else is there to do in a couple of feet of snow?

lilybilly101

I remember teaching a class and a student was messing with the window. The bloody thing chopped the end of his finger off! After going a little green (me more so than him) we picked up the end of his poor finger (ok not me at all but I did watch in a supportive way) and he was rushed to hospital where they could not reattach it. Poor bugger.

Anyway, the windows weren't reinstalled as the school had been operating for generations and taught thousands of kids.....and he was the first to chop his finger off. It was an unfortunate freakish accident....but we were asked to open windows ourselves in the future!

His best mate took him a box of cadbury's chocolate fingers to the hospital!

lilybilly101

Sorry, this was in response to a Dunroving post earlier about 'screenagers'.....and so on.....it sounds a bit random!

kporte

This is how I see it. It is just frustrating to be in that period of rebound and in all likelyhood I will be retired before it evens out
It exists in Australia too. I will price a job that should cost my customer $600, but by the time I allow for the men's Health & Safety components and permits etc, this price can treble.They accept this because they need the job done but it irks me when we are busy to have 3 men away for a full day to do a 2 hour job......

Neil52

When I was in Italy there was young Children sitting on their parents friends laps, I instanatly thought this was strange and not natural....Then I thought NO" ....IT IS NOT STRANGE, IT IS NATURAL..no way would it happen in the UK..then again I have been brought up in Britain

Bevm

On the government trying to police food, along with all the other problems, often the science of the day is wrong! There's plenty of debate about whether cholesterol is bad for everyone, and certainly at one point there was a spate of small children with health problems because their parents thought it would be good to feed them skim milk. Cholesterol is an important building block for the brain and nerves.

At one point eggs were evil, now they're admitting they're a good food, and as they're cheap they could be a very healthy boost for diets when money's tight.

If they'd been able to follow scientific certainty decades ago they'd have tried to force everyone to eat margarine. They certainly convinced a whole lot of people it was good for them. And then, whoops, hydrogenated fats are lethal!

Then carbohydrates were wonder food. Eat lots of bread and pasta, but just make sure to avoid fat. Might as well inject sugar into the bloodstream.

And on, and on. But every time they're so so certain they're right.

Bev

Beedubya

Couldn't agree more on this point Bev. I take absolutely no notice any longer of the good food/bad food scare stories in the paper, they change on a weekly basis.

I certainly remember when you weren't supposed to have more than 2 eggs a week and margarine was the bee's knee's now both proven to be wrong.

kporte

The low fat era will have a legacy too. People obsessed by fat being conned into a massive increase in sugar contained in all the low fat crap.
A simple balanced diet with real food is the way.

Victor Meldrew

Agree to some extent: the kids in UK who get bad press deserve bad press. Like you I have worked with them too, for 30 years now, so have a pretty clear idea of the change and the extent of change.

Those who get into the press, do so because they make 'good press' for the papers and 'good media' for television news.

Kida doing well, doesnt make 'good news' for these people.

There is a greater number of 'bad kids' with a more widespread and extreme form of 'badness' than 20 or 30 years ago. They have got worse.

However, like you say there ia a large majority of great kids who are good citizens and contribute to society. Many of the kids I worked with in UK did community work including working voluntarily in hospices.

Also the comment about young people being less healthy is correct. Too much time interacting with technology in 'virtual worlds' rather than real people in the real world. This has resulted in greater obesity and an inability to relate properly to the next generation up.

and......... just dont get me on to the drinking habits of the young ....... baaaaah humbug!