Posts Tagged ‘Children’
Childhood is dead
On the beach in lovely Dorset, I saw a party of school children. They were all dressed in high-vis jackets. All the adults around them were early middle-aged women dressed in light blue tabards, words on the back displaying their roles: ‘security’, ‘teacher’, ‘parent’ and ‘assistant’. A day out at the beach was an exercise in crowd control and policing. The message was clear: danger was all around. Lest the children be protected and watched at all times, strangers, the sea (calm and watched by lifeguards sat at beach pods), seagulls, men, sand and, well, anything would destroy them.
Maybe the children’s parents were tuning at home, their phones altered by apps into CCTV devices with which to observe junior’s every waking moment. For older children, which these were, mum should only use baby monitors to check if anyone’s coming down the stairs to catch them smoking in the garden. Anything else is spying.
As the children were trained in techniques that should serve them well for future careers as uber-compliant drones in corporate factories or the Labour Party, I read the New York Times:
School days are longer and more regimented. Kindergarten, which used to be focused on play, is now an academic training ground for the first grade. Young children are assigned homework even though numerous studies have found it harmful. STEM, standardized testing and active-shooter drills have largely replaced recess, leisurely lunches, art and music.
The role of school stress in mental distress is backed up by data on the timing of child suicide. “The suicide rate for children is twice what it is for children during months when school is in session than when it’s not in session,” according to Dr. Gray. “That’s true for suicide completion, suicide attempts and suicidal ideation, whereas for adults, it’s higher in the summer.” . . .
And so for many children, when the school day is over, it hardly matters; the hours outside school are more like school than ever. Children spend afternoons, weekends and summers in aftercare and camps while their parents work. The areas where children once congregated for unstructured, unsupervised play are now often off limits. And so those who can afford it drive their children from one structured activity to another. Those who can’t keep them inside. Free play and childhood independence have become relics, insurance risks, at times criminal offenses. . . .
Kids need recess. They need longer lunches. They need free play, family time, meal time. They need less homework, fewer tests, a greater emphasis on social-emotional learning.
In short: leave them alone. True love is giving people space to be alone, bored and make up their own rules. Meanwhile… the drugs and therapy industries are booming.
Random chance: why a Brazilian town has a phenomenal number of twin births
The BBC wants us all to consider a real puzzler- why does one little town in Brazil have such a vast number of twins? The answer being, well, random chance actually. Not that we’d really expect the arts graduates at the Beeb to quite get such a thing. Reality is that somewhere is going to be like that so why not this town?
Cândido Godói is a village of 7,000 inhabitants in the south of Brazil that has a phenomenal number of twin births. The rate is ten times higher than the national average, and no one knows why.
It might strike you that they’re all looking a little Germanic rather than Brazilian and that’s fair enough – they are pretty much all descended from German and Polish immigrants. This also gives us one idea as to why it is happening:
A team of geneticists have been working with the community for a number of years, sampling DNA and learning about families, in an effort to solve the mystery.
A reasonable explanation of the why being that those immigrants generally came from an area where the twin rate is high already. And it’s a known phenomenon that such genetic attributes can be sharpened in a small population. So, that’s that then.
However, there’s a more prosaic explanation available which is that it was going to happen somewhere. The normal rate of twins is about 0.5% of all pregnancies. That rises a bit in certain communities. And all such occurrences are going to be distributed on a Bell or normal curve. Like with height or intelligence, similarly genetically determined things. The twinning rate here is that 10%, about 20 times that in the general population. But then there are 2.5 million or so towns and cities around the world. That’s a large enough number that we would be surprised if one of them didn’t have 20 times the twinning rate.
So, while we can search for the specific answer the general answer is that somewhere was going to do this and it just turns out to be this place in Brazil.
Posted: 17th, September 2018 | In: News, Strange But True | Comment
Dear Ashley: A School Lunchbox Love Letter
THIS love letter was found in a box of primary school projects.
Spotter: Reddit
Posted: 6th, November 2013 | In: Strange But True | Comment
Who’s afraid of adults? Drunk and depressed children listening to their therapist
TWO stories in today’s papers stand out:
The Times leads with news that Under 11s are getting drunk and seeking treatment in A&E departments.
Hundreds of primary-school age children were admitted to accident and emergency departments for alcohol-related problems last year, it has been revealed. The 293 admissions, up by a third on 2011, came after a year in which more than 6,500 under-18s were taken to hospital as a consequence of drinking.
What about drugs?
The numbers, which were obtained through a freedom of information request, also found that 145 children under 11 were admitted to A&E with drug-related conditions, up by 14 per cent on the previous year.
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Posted: 30th, September 2013 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comment
Mothers are all swear-filled monsters: kids repeat the most horrible things (video)
MOTHERS are such paragons of virtue aren’t they? They say things like: “Well, if you were a mother yourself, you’d understand.” They all say a shitload of swear words, echoing down their little offspring’s earholes.
Jimmy Kimmel, having heard about sweary moms, decided to test this out and sent a camera crew out to ask America’s children about the worst words their mothers have used when they’re angry.
This all comes on the back of a report that suggests women are more likely to indulge in a bit of road rage than men.
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The 22 greatest vintage guns for kids adverts
WHEN did you lean to like guns? As Lileks says:
I’m not saying it’s the be-all / end-all of ideological tests, but you can tell a lot about a person by their reaction to these ads. That was then, to understate the case. Nowadays we’ve done away with these dangerous violent antisocial pseudo-guns, and replaced them with merry-makers like Nerf guns and Supersoakers and other items whose makers encourage you to point them at your friends.
If a Nerf gun more likely to appeal to a nascent serial killer than a Daisy? What about a victual gun on Tour of Duty? There will be studies:
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Posted: 3rd, August 2013 | In: Flashback, Key Posts, The Consumer | Comment
Beware the 15%: child-proof product of the day
PRODUCT of the day: The lighter with a warning. Beware the 15%!
Posted: 10th, August 2012 | In: The Consumer | Comment
Hunter Denies Eating A Donut: Sugary Lips Cost Treats
HAS Hunter been eating a donut? Mum says yes. Hunter’s lips say nooooooo.
Mum records the evidence to use in future criminal profiling cases:
Posted: 15th, December 2011 | In: TV & Radio | Comments (2)
Angelina Jolie And Brad Pitt Are Definitely, Definitely Going To Get Married, Right?
That’s right! A big ol’ wedding for the couple and their thousand adopted children to attend!
How thrilling. No really.
And it appears that it will be happening soon, with a wedding set to take place within the next few months. And that’s according to three separate utterly unreliable sources.
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Posted: 14th, July 2011 | In: Celebrities | Comment
Peter Andre Didn’t Hump Elen Rivas While His Children Watched
PETER Andre is a modern day saint. Think about it. He had sexual relations with Katie Price so no-one else had to. He really took one for the team while Jordan fell on the metaphorical sword.
Of course, Price went off with Alex Reid, attracted to his womanly frame and the fact that he was so dumb that he couldn’t spot that he was nothing more than bait to make Peter Andre jealous. This saw Andre crying on Sky News at the hands of the monster that is Kay Burley.
Then, secretly, Pete started going out with Elen Rivas. Sadly for him, everyone had kinda guessed it already.
About the fact he was keeping this relationship a secret, Andre says:
“I never let them see Elen and I in bed together, not ever.”
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Posted: 20th, April 2011 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts | Comment
Israeli Prime Minister Hates Justin Bieber Or Something
JUSTIN Bieber has slowly been revealing himself as a little superbrat. An impressive feat seeing as he’s only a matter of minutes old, still dripping in amniotic juices and placental gunk.
Rumour has it that, despite not having grown a proper set of finger nails yet, the pint sized popstar is already cheating on his celebrity girlfriend, Selena Gomez, and has been caught flipping the bird at the paparazzi after they took his picture repeatedly (not that he likes the attention and the riches and privilege that comes with being someone in the public consciousness constantly).
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The 14 Most Bizarre Tea Party Signs
HEREUNDER are the 14 Most Bizarre Tea Party Protest signs. Do look at them all – and be awed…
The brownest thing – apart from all that bull****.
Posted: 19th, April 2009 | In: Photojournalism | Comment
