The Death of Childhood

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/09/12/njunk112.xml

it's in the evil telegraph, but ilx seems like a pro-childhood kind of place.

― a rapper singing about hos and bitches and money (Enrique), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 10:21 (nineteen years ago)

it'll be in the evil mail tomorrow under the equally dreary headline THE END OF INNOCENCE

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 10:31 (nineteen years ago)

15 pages? no thanks. blame it on mtv but i'm not willing to read 15 pages and then be depressed that ophelia will never experience a happy childhood. i rather PLAY with her. :-)

― Nathalie (stevie nixed), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 10:56 (nineteen years ago)

the other 14 pages just seem to be a list of names. wtd?

― Konal Doddz (blueski), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 10:58 (nineteen years ago)

13 of them are just the people who signed the letter's names.

― a rapper singing about hos and bitches and money (Enrique), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 10:58 (nineteen years ago)

it's an open letter by famous people.

― a rapper singing about hos and bitches and money (Enrique), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 10:58 (nineteen years ago)

what a stupid way to do it. just put all the names on the same page!

― Konal Doddz (blueski), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 11:00 (nineteen years ago)

precis here.

― a rapper singing about hos and bitches and money (Enrique), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 11:01 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, kids should be getting out and about instead of reading all those Tracy Beaker books!

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 11:04 (nineteen years ago)

I listened to a bit of it on the radio this morning.

This is a complex socio-cultural problem to which there is no simple solution, but a sensible first step would be to encourage parents and policy-makers to start talking about ways of improving children’s well-being. We therefore propose as a matter of urgency that public debate be initiated on child-rearing in the 21st century this issue should be central to public policy-making in coming decades.

Yeah, because existing social conditions are only fucking children up.

― Why does my IQ changes? (noodle vague), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 11:04 (nineteen years ago)

And as per usual the proposed solutions will be "anything but don't mess with Capitalism."

― Why does my IQ changes? (noodle vague), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 11:05 (nineteen years ago)

I'm sure Mr Pullman would be happy to forego all future book royalties for the common good of Our Children's Future.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 11:06 (nineteen years ago)

I did hear somebody have a pop at video games at which point I decided they were talking shit.

― Why does my IQ changes? (noodle vague), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 11:07 (nineteen years ago)

All of this just translates as: "kids should read our books."

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 11:09 (nineteen years ago)

The report was sponsored by the Hoop manufacturing industry.

― Why does my IQ changes? (noodle vague), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 11:10 (nineteen years ago)

but i thought childhood didn't end these days, did i miss something?

― jhoshea (scoopsnoodle), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 11:13 (nineteen years ago)

Typical middle class guilt about enjoyment and not 'improving' ones self.

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 11:21 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, and then when the kids do play outside they get ASBOs.

― Why does my IQ changes? (noodle vague), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 11:24 (nineteen years ago)

Blasted imperialist DC Comics muck when they could be absorbing H.E. Bates!

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 11:26 (nineteen years ago)

Incidentally, how did children's apparently delicate development cope when they were working 14 hour mill-shifts aged 6?

― Why does my IQ changes? (noodle vague), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 11:28 (nineteen years ago)

I think it was mostly because they couldn't read.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 11:29 (nineteen years ago)

so cynical! i haven't looked at the list of names but i think the letter itself makes a worthwhile point or two, no? it does bother me to see 11 year olds dressing sexy, and parents calling their toddlers "little cunts", and the prevalence of absolute worthless shit in supermarket shopping trolleys, and that a lot of kids are routinely plonked in front of the tv to keep them quiet. (i am not suggesting no one should ever watch tv or eat junk food or no kids should ever bve yelled at and we should all survive on knitted lentil and broccoli hairshirts and talking around the radio or whatever, but the scale of it gives me the freezing cold creeps.)

i don't get what the rate of technological change has to do with anything - surely kids are better equipped to deal with that than pretty much anyone else, since they're set up to be constantly learning new stuff anyway?

And as per usual the proposed solutions will be "anything but don't mess with Capitalism."

this is the most otm thing on the thread.

― emsk ( emsk), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 11:37 (nineteen years ago)

If you want your report to have any credibility, probly best not to let the Chair of Mediawatch UK sign it.

― Why does my IQ changes? (noodle vague), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 11:39 (nineteen years ago)

good to see sufjan on board though.

― a rapper singing about hos and bitches and money (Enrique), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 11:40 (nineteen years ago)

I thought it was devendra who was big on children's issues.

― Why does my IQ changes? (noodle vague), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 11:41 (nineteen years ago)

Only in the Gary Glitter sense (ALLEGEDLY).

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 11:45 (nineteen years ago)

I don't see Sufjan in that list.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 11:45 (nineteen years ago)

it was a great belly-laugher of a joke about credibility.

― a rapper singing about hos and bitches and money (Enrique), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 11:46 (nineteen years ago)

Obviously kids should be reading Virginia Ironside's exciting new autobiography about turning sixty as currently serialised in The Times.

It's not quite as good as the Ashley Cole one.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 11:49 (nineteen years ago)

She probly whines less tho.

― Why does my IQ changes? (noodle vague), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 11:51 (nineteen years ago)

The Cole book is something else.

Mr Dein offered me a pay rise from £25,000 to £35,000 per week.
I said DON'T TRY IT

I was hanging around in Mr Mourinho's office when Mr Mourinho just happened to walk in randomly and asked me if I was happy at Arsenal.
I told him DON'T TRY IT

My fellow teammates refused to bow and scrape as I walked past them en route to get my mobile top-up at Highbury Costcutters, north London.
I roared DON'T TRY IT

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 11:54 (nineteen years ago)

Sir - As professionals and academics from a range of backgrounds, we are deeply concerned at the escalating incidence of Ashley Cole depression and Ashley Cole’s behavioural and developmental conditions. We believe this is largely due to a lack of understanding, on the part of both football managers and supporters, of the realities and subtleties of Ashley Cole development.

― Why does my IQ changes? (noodle vague), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 11:56 (nineteen years ago)

And his missus thinks I'm fucking mental?

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 12:05 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.thenassauguardian.com/images/lead1.jpg

― dan bunnybrain (dan bunnybrain), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 12:23 (nineteen years ago)

Wrong on so many levels. Plus one.

― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 12:27 (nineteen years ago)

Kids should eat better, watch less TV, play fewer video games and not be pushed so hard. There, I said it. I know it's pretty earth-shattering for me to say it, but I just felt something had to be done. Phew, I feel a lot better now I've really done something. (Maybe writing a letter would be doing even more?)

― Maria :D (Maria D.), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 12:48 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzMJXnYQCMA

― dan bunnybrain (dan bunnybrain), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 13:03 (nineteen years ago)

http://i.today.reuters.com/misc/genImage.aspx?uri=2006-09-11T221705Z_01_N10478024_RTRUKOP_2_PICTURE0.jpg&resize=full

― dan bunnybrain (dan bunnybrain), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 13:14 (nineteen years ago)

Mommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

― dan bunnybrain (dan bunnybrain), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 13:16 (nineteen years ago)

hahaha "as beneficiaries of an idea essentially invented by Blake and Wordsworth a couple of centuries ago, we would like to register our displeasure over any changes to the model"

― Thomas Tallis (Tommy), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 14:36 (nineteen years ago)

kids need to be put to work younger is the problem. the biggest blunder our society ever made was our demonization of child labor. our kids have too much free time, and too much of that free time is filled up by junk. in fact, i think society would be better off if children were slughtered at birth, by law.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 15:01 (nineteen years ago)

when we started talking about "teenagers" versus "old enough to breed" it was a long slippery slope towards 9/11

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 15:02 (nineteen years ago)

ah it's computer games' fault again, just like the bulger killing was a proxy murder by sonic the hedgehog

― The Real DG (D to thee G), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 15:05 (nineteen years ago)

it does bother me to see 11 year olds dressing sexy, and parents calling their toddlers "little cunts", and the prevalence of absolute worthless shit in supermarket shopping trolleys, and that a lot of kids are routinely plonked in front of the tv to keep them quiet. (i am not suggesting no one should ever watch tv or eat junk food or no kids should ever bve yelled at and we should all survive on knitted lentil and broccoli hairshirts and talking around the radio or whatever, but the scale of it gives me the freezing cold creeps.)

Absolutely OTM.

We did similar on the "oh noes, an 11 year old is pregnant" thread, didn't we?

― ailsa (ailsa), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 15:11 (nineteen years ago)

tracy beaker vs dead rising

― The Real DG (D to thee G), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 15:16 (nineteen years ago)

holden caulfield to thread

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 20:13 (nineteen years ago)

Rising "incidence" of childhood depression vs. rising "diagnosis" of childhood depression

― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 20:25 (nineteen years ago)

Scare quotes are for emphasis and not entirely intended to cast aspersions on the validity of depression diagnoses!

― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 20:30 (nineteen years ago)

TS: sitting and staring at piece of paper VS. sitting and staring at screens

― Eppy (Eppy), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 20:44 (nineteen years ago)

That would only make sense if the book was one quarter advertisments.

― everything (everything), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 20:56 (nineteen years ago)

Since children’s brains are still developing, they cannot adjust – as full-grown adults can – to the effects of ever more rapid technological and cultural change. They still need what developing human beings have always needed, including real food (as opposed to processed “junk”), real play (as opposed to sedentary, screen-based entertainment), first-hand experience of the world they live in and regular interaction with the real-life significant adults in their lives.

Who the feck are these people blaming for this trend? It isnt the man in the chip shop's fault, or the Product Manager at EA Games's fault, or the talking head on BBC2's fault. IT IS THEIR FAULT, THEY ARE THE PARENTS. They are the ones who give their children good food, time to read books, watch useful TV shows, go out and play in the yard or the park safely. My parents did this and I *really* dont think things have changed that much since the 80s.

Smack me down for this if you like, but the way I see it, people seem to desperately want to have everything - owning a home, a car, all mod cons and living as centrally as possible in big cities.

All of which costs BUCKETLOADS of money. So both parents take jobs. And then wonder why they cant cope, and whine and bitch and moan to the local paper/local council because there arent' enough childcare places.

Families seriously have forgotten about just being families, spending time with each other at home, being the ones leading their children's learning and life experiences. Anyone who says "it is just too hard to do that" frankly shouldnt be having kids in the first place.

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 23:54 (nineteen years ago)

Ugh, these newspaper bloviations are so tiresome - it's that classic "There's a (vaguely defined) social problem, therefore, a bunch of stuff I already don't like is clearly to blame."

― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 02:17 (nineteen years ago)

nabisco's logic is a little perilous.

― a rapper singing about hos and bitches and money (Enrique), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 07:53 (nineteen years ago)

We watched, together, the "Jamie's School Dinners" programme yesterday.

Alice made the point that actually if they made twizzlers with healthy stuff inside, that would be a good way of doing it. "Carrot Twizzlers", she suggested. (nb. she's never had a turkey twizzler)

Anyway, my term of reference is "Treat them as adult, never forget they are children".

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 07:59 (nineteen years ago)

Taking Trayce's comments into account, the villain of the piece would still appear to be: capitalism, surprise surprise.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 08:13 (nineteen years ago)

What's perilous about suggesting that "rising diagnosis" is not necessarily the same as "rising incidence?"

Trayce, I think the people responsible for this statement are saying pretty much the same thing as you -- they're not really pointing any fingers, just saying our culture is bad about this in general. Which includes "parents, be aware" as a matter of course.

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 15:47 (nineteen years ago)

I mean, just by analogy, if more rapes were reported today than in 1964, that wouldn't necessarily mean fewer rapes actually took place back then.

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 15:51 (nineteen years ago)

I think it must be the fault of myspace. I'm surprised they didn't realise it's the fault of myspace.

― Maria :D (Maria D.), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 16:56 (nineteen years ago)

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