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Kids Today

Pre-teen gangster hunted in Mexico
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/wor ... 35249.html

MEXICO CITY – Soldiers are hunting a 12-year-old suspected drug gang hitman accused of helping wage a gruesome turf war in Mexico, a state prosecutor and media said yesterday.

The boy, known only as “El Ponchis”, is believed to be working for the South Pacific cartel in Morelos state, just outside Mexico City, and is one of a group of teenagers who have committed “terrible acts”, Morelos state prosecutor Pedro Luis Benitez said.

“These minors are still not fully developed and so it is easy to influence them, to give them a gun, pretending it is plastic, that it is a game,” Mr Benitez said.

“They’re persuaded to carry out terrible acts; they don’t realise what they are doing,” he added. – (Reuters)
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An only child is a happy child, says research
The more siblings children have, the unhappier they become, due to bullying and competition
Anushka Asthana The Observer, Sunday 14 November 2010

In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Natalie Portman once said: "I would never have been an actress if I weren't an only child, because my parents would never have let me be the star of the family at the expense of another child." It turns out that when it comes to the advantages of life without brothers and sisters, she was on to something.

One of the widest-ranging research projects on family life conducted in Britain has revealed that the fewer siblings children have, the happier they are – and that only children are the most contented.

The findings, shared exclusively with the Observer, suggest that "sibling bullying" could be part of the problem, with 31% of children saying they are hit, kicked or pushed by a brother or sister "quite a lot" or "a lot". Others complain of belongings being stolen by siblings and being called hurtful names.

The figures are the first to emerge from Understanding Society, a study tracking the lives of 100,000 people in 40,000 British households. They will be revealed on Friday in Britain in 2011, the State of the Nation, a magazine published by the Economic and Social Research Council.

On children and happiness, it finds that:

• Seven out of 10 British teenagers are "very satisfied" with their lives.

• Children from ethnic minorities are on average happier than their white British counterparts.

• Happiness declines the more siblings there are in a household.

The findings are based on in-depth questionnaires completed by 2,500 young people, which have been analysed by Gundi Knies from the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex where the Understanding Society study is based. She suggested that factors such as competition for the parents' attention or the fact that toys, sweets or space need to be shared could be to blame. Knies also pointed to other data within the study on sibling bullying: 29.5% of teenagers complain of being called "nasty names" by brothers or sisters "quite a lot" or "a lot", while 17.6% say they have their belongings taken away from them.

Professor Dieter Wolke of the University of Warwick, who carried out the work on tensions between brothers and sisters, said: "More than half of all siblings (54%) were involved in bullying in one form or the other." Although there is also evidence that points to siblings providing support for each other, he warned that children who faced bullying both at home and in the playground were particularly vulnerable to behaviour problems and unhappiness.

Wolke did not study the impact of such tensions on parents, but added: "From anecdotal reports, quarrelling siblings increase stress for parents and some just give up intervening or intervene inconsistently, leaving the field wide open for the bully sibling."

Siobhan Freegard, the co-founder of the website Netmums who has three children, said that many mothers felt like "referees" after their children reached a certain age and started quarrelling with their brothers and sisters.

She questioned whether the findings on happiness were linked to the fact that children were desperate for parental attention. "With three children, it is three lots of dinner, three lots of washing, three lots of driving to after-school activities, so you do get less time for each. I like to think they are getting benefits in other ways," said Freegard.

She said the findings would come as a relief to the parents of only children who often felt guilty about the lack of brothers and sisters.

etc...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/ ... n-bullying

I had one younger brother, who liked to pick fights with me. As I was bigger than him, I could normally subdue him, but it was still very annoying. I wanted to say "FFS leave me alone!" (Or words to that effect...)
 
Kondoru said:
I was an only child and very happy with it
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You were? Has something changed?

I am an only and although I didn't mind it as a child I am finding it more of an issue as an adult. Now my parents are getting older, and I have no other family, I am worried about what the future holds. It'll be only me who can deal with funeral arrangements, care homes and really the mental support needed when going through issues like that.
Also when I was in my late teens I became increasingly aware that I was living in the middle of someone else's relationship.

On the up side I am very adept at being alone. In fact I get a bit edgy if I don't get some time alone each day.
 
liveinabin1 said:
Kondoru said:
I was an only child and very happy with it
Click to expand...

You were? Has something changed?

I am an only and although I didn't mind it as a child I am finding it more of an issue as an adult. Now my parents are getting older, and I have no other family, I am worried about what the future holds. It'll be only me who can deal with funeral arrangements, care homes and really the mental support needed when going through issues like that.
Also when I was in my late teens I became increasingly aware that I was living in the middle of someone else's relationship.

On the up side I am very adept at being alone. In fact I get a bit edgy if I don't get some time alone each day.
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Regarding what you say here (that I took the liberty of making bold type), wow. I've never really articulated that thought in my head but as an essentially only child with two much older/adult when I was born half brothers, that really was true for me too. I so wish I had siblings growing up. But I also am adept at being alone and need occasional alone time/personal space to stay happy.
 
The single child friends I have seem a bit emotionally needy and entitled, like they need to be important somehow. Could be a coincidence!
 
Seems to be a stereotype, like the one about only children being 'spoilt'

I've lost track of the number of times i heard that one growing up, and my idea of being 'spoilt' doesn;t involve scavenging thrown away food from bins at a nearby shopping centre, but i guess it made some people feel better to say it. Esp. right before they twatted you, knowing you weren;t going to come back mob handed with siblings.
 
I'm another single child (parents would have liked another but mum was told not to have any more due to what happened with me - I escaped the womb a couple of months too soon.)

In terms of development I always found it hard to understand why people were fighting over stuff - especially if I had it. Seems multiples tend to be more aggressive in demanding what they want, but being a single, I just accepted what was given if it was there. I'm still hopeless in conflict situations.

Know what people mean when they say they need me time - something some partners have misunderstood, seeing it as a form of rejection. I'm happy on my own in some respects but would also like a partner but only someone who respected my need to for my own space and time (and little universe 8) )

Actually i think this topic needs its own thread. ;)
 
Oh, people were always telling me I was spoilt, and i told them to shove off, it wasnt my fault.

Oh yes, I was spoilt, but compared to what kids get today...
 
I think this could deserve it's own thread, indeed. I was just thinking about this last night too. I seem to have this thing about attention and being the center of it while completely not understanding consciously, that at times it's unreasonable....I can't help but think after the fact it has to do with being an only child and not having to have shared the spotlight/attention. I didn't get that much attention, but a lot of the time I felt like things revolved around me since there was no one else around to deal with. Does this make sense? I think it also inhibited my ability to communicate in a lot of situations.
 
Interestingly, being the youngest by seven years so effectively an only child I bumped into a lot of pre-conception at school, so teachers would say 'Oh he'll be an attention seeker, he'll be easily led' etc. etc. without even knowing me and as a result to frustrate the teachers I wound up being precisely the opposite.
 
Schoolgirl, 14, shopped to police by her 'disgusted' mother after vandalising war memorial
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 4:12 PM on 16th November 2010

A schoolgirl who was shopped to police by her own disgusted mother after the teenager vandalised a city's cenotaph has admitted the offence in court.

The 14-year-old sprayed obscene pink graffiti on the memorial in Wolverhampton, which so outraged passing war heroes on their way to a function that they were moved to tears.

The teenager admitted daubing the cenotaph with a lewd drawing of a penis and the slogans 'I love Luke x' and 'Spar's'.
The nickname painted on the monument in St Peter's Square led police to the teenager's home in Dudley, West Midlands.
Her mother told officers she had found a can of paint spray in her daughter's school bag two days after the attack. She also agreed to be a prosecution witness.

The graffiti was seen by members of the Burma Star Association on their way to a reception at Wolverhampton's civic centre.

Wolverhampton Royal British Legion president John Mellor said: 'I am amazed and ashamed that anyone would want to desecrate a war memorial.
'It is disgusting.'

Paul Hitchcock, prosecuting at Wolverhampton Youth Court on Monday, said that the case had been brought to court, despite the girl's age, because of the public outrage caused by the attack on October 5.

He added that the war veterans had been 'extremely distressed' by what they had seen.

Ravi Dev, defending, told the court: 'She was not fully aware of what the cenotaph is and what it represents.
'She foolishly caused the damage and has accepted that this was a terrible, terrible, horrible mistake.'

He said her mother was 'quite disgusted' by her daughter's actions and has supported the police prosecution.
She was not at the hearing because of her possible role as a witness.

The case was adjourned until Thursday for sentencing so the girl's mother can attend court. The teenager was bailed.

Mr Dev said it was the girl's first offence and that she had been given the spray paint.

The defaced memorial was cleaned up by specialist contractors last month.
The clean-up crew was drafted in by the council to erase the graffiti over a weekend and was believed to have cost £600 as a specialist cleaning method was needed in order to protect the delicate sandstone.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z15X2PNmBU
 
ramonmercado said:
She should have made her daughter go and clean it rather than going to the police.
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Sounds like that might only have made matters worse:

The defaced memorial was cleaned up by specialist contractors last month.
The clean-up crew was drafted in by the council to erase the graffiti over a weekend and was believed to have cost £600 as a specialist cleaning method was needed in order to protect the delicate sandstone.
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locussolus said:
I think this could deserve it's own thread, indeed. I was just thinking about this last night too. I seem to have this thing about attention and being the center of it while completely not understanding consciously, that at times it's unreasonable....I can't help but think after the fact it has to do with being an only child and not having to have shared the spotlight/attention. I didn't get that much attention, but a lot of the time I felt like things revolved around me since there was no one else around to deal with. Does this make sense? I think it also inhibited my ability to communicate in a lot of situations.
Click to expand...

Interesting. Having read your post I must say I can relate to it. Prior to reading your post it wouldnt have been something that crossed my mind. Ill have to give it some more thought!
I get a lot of attention, I have a love hate relationship with it. Communication, yes that too
I think we should have a thread too :)
 
Teachers given new powers to discipline pupils
Teachers will be given new powers to discipline pupils as part of a government plan to restore order in classrooms.
By Graeme Paton, Education Editor 7:10AM GMT 20 Nov 2010

An education white paper being published next week will give school staff the right to confiscate mobile phones, iPods, MP3 players and other electronic gadgets.

For the first time, teachers will be able to search pupils for any item they believe troublemakers can use to cause disruption during lessons.

The move follows a series of incidents in which pupils have taken photos and videos of teachers then uploaded compromising images on to the internet. Last year, Peter Harvey, a science teacher, attacked a 14-year-old boy after being goaded by students who covertly filmed the episode on a camera phone.

Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, warned that the balance of power in schools had shifted in recent years, with teachers “living in fear of breaking the rules while troublemaking students felt the law was on their side”. The reforms, which are designed to tackle bad behaviour, will give staff the power to search pupils for any item, including legal highs, pornography, cigarettes and fireworks.

Previously, teachers could only frisk pupils’ clothes and search bags without consent for weapons, drugs, alcohol and stolen goods.

The white paper will also set out plans to:

?Simplify rules on the use of physical force, giving teachers more powers to remove disruptive children from the classroom without fear of legal action;

?Protect teachers from false and malicious allegations made by pupils and parents, giving them anonymity until a case reaches court;

?Give head teachers the power to expel pupils from school without the decision being overturned by an independent appeals panel;

?Allow teachers to impose “same day” detentions, scrapping rules that require schools to give parents a 24-hour warning;

?Introduce rules giving head teachers the ability to punish pupils for bad behaviour outside school.

Mr Gove said teachers “had to be respected again”.
“Under the last Government’s approach to discipline, heads and teachers lived in fear of breaking the rules while troublemaking students felt the law was on their side,” he said. “We have to stop treating adults like children and children like adults.
“We will ensure that the balance of power in the classroom changes and teachers are back in charge.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/ed ... upils.html
 
Heckler20 said:
Interestingly, being the youngest by seven years so effectively an only child I bumped into a lot of pre-conception at school, so teachers would say 'Oh he'll be an attention seeker, he'll be easily led' etc. etc. without even knowing me and as a result to frustrate the teachers I wound up being precisely the opposite.
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I am an only child, and a teacher. I get very offended by other teachers attitudes towards only children. Comments like 'well he is an only child' or 'typical only child behaviour' are comments you wouldn't dream of making about other groups in society. I find that only children are treated like they are somehow abnormal.
One of the most upsetting things that happened to me at school with regards to being an only child was during a French lesson. We had to learn how to say 'I have one brother' or the like. The teacher didn't write on the board how to say that you were an only child, when I asked, she didn't know.
Also note there is a term for being an only child but not for having siblings.
 
When I was young, I was told about a far away country in which all kids were like me.

And do you know what Chinese kids are poilt too?
 
I remember it being a topic for conversation in our French class, too.
I was told to call myself a "fille seule".
 
Recycled1 said:
I remember it being a topic for conversation in our French class, too.
I was told to call myself a "fille seule".
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I think fille unique would be more likely.
 
Dr_Baltar said:
Recycled1 said:
I remember it being a topic for conversation in our French class, too.
I was told to call myself a "fille seule".
Click to expand...

I think fille unique would be more likely.
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Maybe....but they're the words that came out of my memory when prompted by liveinabin's post.
Perhaps they're what I used to describe my situation. It's a long time ago!
 
This is really quite shocking, I know what it's like to have to leave home at that age and being vulnerably accomodated is pretty rotten, this is much worse:

School plans centre to house its homeless pupils

A school will launch an unprecedented appeal tomorrow to create an accommodation centre for homeless pupils after discovering that a sixth former had spent four months sleeping rough in a London park.

The proposed centre at Quintin Kynaston school in St John's Wood, London, will have up to a dozen beds and will be open to students who have been made homeless as well as those who need a temporary place to shelter from a family crisis.

While there are a number of state boarding schools, the creation of accommodation for homeless pupils marks a significant departure. Quintin Kynaston is not the only school looking at a radical solution to the problem – an academy school in Kent is also exploring a residential option for its pupils.

Quintin Kynaston's headteacher, Jo Shuter, said: "We have currently got about 10 students in the sixth form who are living in hostel accommodation, and probably another 30 who are right on the precipice and could drop over.

"Sixteen to 18 is the most vulnerable age. That's the time when kids cope with significant hardship."

The £3m appeal to create Quintin Kynaston House will be launched with the backing of celebrities including Kieran Gibbs, Arsenal and England player, and Madness singer Suggs, who is a former pupil. The school is also appealing for experts who can help it to apply for charitable status and handle the legal aspects of a property purchase.

Robyn Kelly, 17, a pupil who moved to a young women's hostel after a row with her mother on New Year's Day, said: "It's impossible to do any work [at the hostel]. I spent this weekend at a friend's house trying to catch up. It's not only other residents making noise. There's no one there to help me if I get stuck.

"The kitchens aren't clean enough and I don't feel safe cooking in a place with shared fridges. Once, one of my cooking pots was stolen and for a few months I had to buy microwaveable meals and keep them in a cupboard."

The school fears homelessness among pupils is likely to get worse as cutbacks to social services and education spending start to affect them.

Every sixth former at Quintin Kynaston school currently claims the education maintenance allowance – a weekly payment of up to £30 for poorer teenagers staying on in the classroom that has been scrapped by the coalition.

Those claiming it will get it until the end of the academic year, but it closes to new applicants in January and will be stopped completely in the next academic year.

Homeless pupils at the school include a boy who was sleeping in Hyde Park when he joined to study for his A-levels.

"He was one of the brightest kids I've ever come across and he was sleeping in Hyde Park for four months," said Shuter.

"His mother had mental health issues and things went from bad to worse, until one day he got home and found all his stuff in a bag. She told him he couldn't come home.

"We got him into a hostel, which is where he still is. At least he's got a bed."

The Marlowe academy in Ramsgate is also looking at creating a residential unit after discovering several pupils were homeless two years ago.

Gabrielle Wilson, who works with the academy's sponsor and former Saga chairman, Roger De Haan, said: "There are a number of young people at any one time who are sofa-surfing because of a breakdown in the relationship with their families. I wouldn't say there's any more than half a dozen at any one time.

"The local FE college has a very similar problem, so there might be a need for a larger unit."

Its pupils leave home for a range of reasons including family breakdown – sometimes because a new stepfather moves in – and parental pressure to drop out of education after 16, Wilson said.

Quintin Kynaston school is rated outstanding by Ofsted, which noted in its latest report that it "works relentlessly to overcome barriers to learning … for some students the barriers are considerable".

For the last three years, 100% of its year 13 pupils have gone on to higher education, despite the fact that around half of children at the school are entitled to free school meals. Nationally, just 6% of children on free school meals sit A-levels.

The headteacher regards the creation of the centre as part of a holistic approach to caring for its pupils.

She added: "In spite of a whole range of problems, we have enabled them to get through [to university].

"That means for most of the kids we're parenting them not just teaching them."
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/ ... ess-pupils
 
I think its a very good idea.

The 16-18 age bracket seem to be very poorly supported in this country.

Lets face it, how many people of that age can get a full time job?

And pretty much everyone needs time out from family crisises, dont they?

(I had a very loving family but that didnt stop me from running away several times)
 
Canadian girl 'youngest to discover supernova'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12110747

Kathryn Gray, 10, at home in Birdton, New Brunswick, Canada, on 3 Jan 2010, sits next to the computer monitor on which is the image in which she discovered the supernova Kathryn Gray says she is 'really excited' by her interstellar discovery

A 10-year-old girl in Canada has become the youngest person to discover a supernova - an exploding star which can briefly outshine a whole galaxy.

Kathryn Gray was studying images taken at an amateur observatory which had been sent to her father.

She spotted the magnitude 17 supernova on Sunday.

Supernovas - which are rare events - are stellar explosions that mark the violent deaths of stars several times bigger than the Sun.

The supernova was discovered in the galaxy UGC 3378, about 240 million light years away, in the constellation of Camelopardalis.

"I'm really excited. It feels really good," Ms Gray told Canada's Star newspaper.
Age estimate

Kathryn's father, Paul Gray, himself an amateur astronomer, helped her make the discovery by taking the steps to rule out asteroids and checking the list of current known supernovas.

The discovery was then verified by independent astronomer and officially registered, the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC) said in a statement.

Looking for supernovas requires going through old images of star fields and comparing them to new pictures.

"Kathryn pointed to the screen and said: 'Is this one?' I said yup, that looks pretty good," Mr Gray told the newspaper.

"It's fantastic that someone so young would be passionate about astronomy. What an incredible discovery. We're all very excited," said Deborah Thompson of RASC.

The new supernova is called Supernova 2010lt.

The last supernova in our galaxy occurred several hundred years ago.

Supernovas are of interest to astronomers because they manufacture most of the chemical elements that went into making the Earth and other planets, says the RASC.

Distant supernovas can be used to estimate the size and age of our universe.
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Life gets complicated. Parents get knickers in a twist over a kids TV prog:

Rastamouse provokes complaints of racism and teaching bad language
An animated reggae-singing mouse that has become a children's television hit on the BBC has sparked complaints from parents who fear the show is racist and encourages the use of slang.
By Jonathan Wynne-Jones and Jasper Copping 9:00PM GMT 12 Feb 2011

He is an animated reggae-singing mouse who has become a hit for the BBC, entertaining children with his attempts to fight crime and spread love and respect.

Yet dreadlocked Rastamouse has provoked more than a hundred complaints to the corporation with parents expressing fears the show is racist and encouraging the use of slang.

Mothers on online parenting forums have even raised fears that the programme could result in playground fights if children try to copy the mouse.
One mother on the Mumsnet forum, using the name TinyD4ncer, says she is concerned her child be attacked for repeating some of the Jamaican Patois phrases used by the mouse.
"The thing I'm most worried about is her saying the words like 'Rasta' and going up to a child and saying (these) things ... my child is white and I feel if she was to say this to another child who was not white that it would be seen as her insulting the other child."

Another parent, on Bumpandbaby.com, says: "just watched a couple videos .. i'm going to say it is racist," while a blogger on musicmagazine website describes the show as "a mildly racist take on Rastafarians in the form of a cute mouse".

The BBC has received complaints from six viewers that the animated show stereotypes black people, while another 95 have complained about the language used in the show.

The Rastafarian mouse, who leads a band called the Easy Crew and speaks in Jamaican Patois, uses phrases such as "me wan go" ("I want to go"), "irie" ("happy"), "wagwan" ("what's going on?"). His mission is to "make a bad ting good".

The show has proved to be very popular since it was launched on CBeebies last month, and has been praised for being funny and educational at the same time.

"We wanted to create something contemporary, colourful and fun that would appeal not just to black children, but to other children as well," said Genevieve Webster, who co-authored the books that the show is based on.
"I want children and grown-ups to watch it and enjoy it, be uplifted by the message and the seriously cool music."

A BBC spokesman said: "The Rastamouse books are written in Afro-Caribbean Patois rhyme and this authentic voice has been transferred to the TV series to retain its heart, integrity and distinctive quality.
"Rastamouse is part of a rich and varied CBeebies schedule, which is dedicated to reflecting the lives of all children in this country.
"Although Rastamouse has a particular appeal to young Afro-Caribbean children, its entertaining stories and positive messages - about friendship, respect and community - are intended to be enjoyed by all our young viewers, regardless of their backgrounds."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvan ... guage.html
 
Just watched it on the iplayer, it's smashing little show, some folks need to get a life.
 
My friend worked on Rastamouse so I watched it to see what he had been up to, and I loved it.
When I heard the name I have to say I thought it sounded dreadful but I really enjoyed it.
People say it's racist but then the original books were written by a Rastafarian chap who was sick of all black children being portrayed in books that were worthy watercoloured picture books where no one was having much fun.
I'm sure many children will be able to relate the language used in Rastamouse to their own lives.
 
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