Children

Children, and children's rights

DEMANDS WITH MENACES

DEMANDS WITH MENACES Come here! The harassed mother slaps the child, To stop the little savage running wild; Stay there! The boss and his cop soon tell the man, Who was the child so trained since life began; Lie still! They tell the girl, and then the woman: Biology and gold make you half human! Accept! His social world will tell the prole; Avoid more pain and grief: stick to your role; Don't buck iniquity you can't hope to solve, His instincts tell him then: don't fret, don't delve Don't hope! Solidarity won't save your soul: Make the best of yours, forget the whole! Don't see the meanness in...

New Labour calls on “the nation” to sort out youth

From binge drinking and the problems associated with it, to privatisation, the dumbing down of education and low paid, “flexible for the bosses” work, life under New Labour has a bit of everything bad for working class youth. At work, millions of working people are paid a pittance, and the younger you are the worse it is. To add insult to injury the Tories, the government and the media have stepped up the crude cultural bigotry about youth, while competing to find the best solutions to their bad behaviour based on developing ever more coercive interventions. There seems to be no end to the...

MARY PLAYS NUNS' SCHOOL

MARY PLAYS NUNS' SCHOOL Now, Mary places papers all along the kitchen, On table, dresser, chairs: small girls at school; Herself, the nun, alone with children in her den. Mary is re-enacting school, the convent school, Where little girls are shaped, chastised, cut By holy women strung alive to God's tight rule. So she begins to teach: she stiffens, starts to strut Facing the girls, like nemesis engaged, A long thin stick in hand. Slowly she starts to “tut”. “Tut-tut! Tut-tut! Tut-tut!” Soon anger sparks to rage, Deep-rooted rage: a wounded eye-less Id Seething with rancid, poisoned life inside...

I LEARN TO TELL THE TIME

I LEARN TO TELL THE TIME Winter light waning in the window behind us, We sit, becalmed, crouched by the turf-fired grate, Elbows on knees, our palms spread to the heat, Talking: her sleep is heavy all around us. Hard times: she has gone back again to serve In the workhouse hospital for seven nights A week; two kids, snatched sleep, too many fights; She can not last for long, nor can his nerve: Our time is nearly done; and there, he took It in his head to teach me to unlock, To “read”, the secret signs on our old clock (I never would teach him to read a book). For years we measured time after...

THE BELLS OF SAINT MARY'S

THE BELLS OF SAINT MARY'S The nun is being banished by her priest For her own good; he will not tell her why: She must not know (And now I start to cry, Released in the dark). She has to leave, at least For now, in silence, knowing not their guilt Who ache for her to stay, but must not say (I'm crying bitterly now, ambushed, at bay, Smothering in the story, like a quilt). Bing Crosby, Ingrid Bergman's ailing nun, “Bells of Saint Mary's”: tawdry arts that sway Shadows behind the flick'ring shadow play: Weeping in darkness through that strange re-run Silence-charged futile tears against the tide...

Nurseries Make Children Feral - Allegedly

Hot news today. Sending your kids to nursery turns them into yobs, yes it does.

Well actually, it doesn't, even according to the report cited - which claims that attending nursery for long hours, especially over 35 hours a week, may bring out anti-social behaviour in children. The report also says...

Fringe Benefits - But What About Core Services?

Today, I spent some time filling in forms to get some additional services for my son Joe, who has Asperger's Syndrome.

Through Hackney Family Back-Up, we can get various services, including a monthly Saturday afternoon club for kids with "challenging behaviour".

Sign him up for 'The Key' - Hackney...

Capitalism is making our children sick

Of all the industrialised countries Britain is the poorest, unhealthiest and most depressing place to grow up in. So said a recently published UNICEF report, ‘Child Poverty in Perspective’… They looked at life for children and young adults across a range of social indicators - wealth, health, education and so on - and found Britain came bottom out of the 21 richest countries, particularly on issues relating to family life and friendships, self-esteem and mental health. Britain is a worse place to live than the US, with its vast gap between rich and poor; it is a worse place to live than ex...

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