UK CHILDREN MOST DEPRIVED IN DEVELOPED WORLD

There is a lack of kindness among British children and many do not share family meal times. Why are British parents so thoughtless and selfish? Being kind and compassionate is a skill children can learn from their parents. What hope for the remaining two children of Kate and Gerry McCann, if they remain with their parents? The McCann sycophants on the Daily Express demonstrate the sort of personality characteristics that explain these awful figures. They defend the McCanns very serious neglect of three tiny children 'a mistake that Kate and Gerry McCann will have to live with for the rest of their lives' (Rosiepops). At least they still have a life. These people show no concern or empathy for little children - just how many of them are there in the UK. It is a national disgrace the government should take urgent measures to address. The McCann style of parenting brings the issue to the forefront of the public's mind and British parents should ask themselves the question - do I really love and nurture my child, making them feel so loved and so special in my eyes? Buying a heap of expensive toys for christmas will not make amends for serious parental failure to nurture, love and protect.

If you click on the link to the United Nations Study below, you will see on the chart that for family and peer relationships UK is bottom in position 21, Portugal 2nd - in this category. This may place into context why Portuguese parents just cannot understand the behaviour of Kate and Gerry McCann whereas it seems clear from some on the Daily Express, there are British parents who see little wrong in it. This is where British parents can learn from the Portuguese rather than criticise, even though scoring on all measure places Portugal in the bottom 5 but still way ahead of UK. This brings into context the hypocritical criticism of the treatment and well-being of children in Portugal by some very unpleasant characters on the Daily Express. Trying to suggest that it is simply not a safe place for children to be. The evidence confirms it is in fact a far safer place for them. They point to just a few abductions off the streets, not from childrens beds in Portugal over recent months and seek to use this as a link to the demise of Madeleine and again, as a completely unjustified piece of villification of Portugal. As a poster on the DE~ tonight pointed out there are over 70,000 children who disappear every year in the UK - a truly staggering picture of the misery our children are suffering and what of all the rest who do not disappear. What of all the murders by our teenagers? Happy slapping videos - what sort of monsters for parents do these children have? There is barely a week goes by when we do not hear of some poor man going out to a gang of teenagers asking them not to urinate or damage his car - and for this he is kicked to death. This is a social issue, not a legal one. Certainly we can just lock these kids up when they do something as horrifying as that but what of Tony Blair promise to also attack the causes of crime? Rotten parents! ASBOs - is this the best the government can do - many of these young lads and girls too wear the ASBO crown as a status symbol. Social policy is the answer but it is an expensive one - we dont need any more legal gimmicks - it will not make any difference! We need to educate children in school about treating others with humanity and respect with a very firm emphasis on developing anti-discriminatory attitudes. A study of some of the nasty characters on the DE demonstrates they all suffer from this disease. Just like playground bullies they look for any means to attack and ridicule. In schools we also need to develop a passion for art, animals, the environment etc equipping them to be decent adults who will make decent parents rather than those who dump their children at every given opportunity and preach hatred and nastiness towards fellow human beings blind to the lasting harm they cause.

Vivx

By the way Leigh 3 - thanks for your post that led me to this article x You always bring up such interesting and worthwhile issues for discussion.




British children: poorer, at greater risk and more insecure
· UN puts UK bottom of 21 advanced nations· 'A crisis at heart of our society' - children's commissioner

Sarah Boseley, health editor
The Guardian,
Wednesday February 14 2007

Children smoke outside a shop in Bristol. Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty
Children growing up in the United Kingdom suffer greater deprivation, worse relationships with their parents and are exposed to more risks from alcohol, drugs and unsafe sex than those in any other wealthy country in the world, according to a study from the United Nations.
The UK is bottom of the league of 21 economically advanced countries according to a "report card"' put together by Unicef on the wellbeing of children and adolescents, trailing the United States which comes second to last.
Today's findings will be a blow to the government, which has set great store by lifting children out of poverty and improving their education and prospects. Al Aynsley Green, the children's commissioner for England, acknowledges that the UN has accurately highlighted the troubled lives of children. "There is a crisis at the heart of our society and we must not continue to ignore the impact of our attitudes towards children and young people and the effect that this has on their wellbeing," he says in a response today.
"I hope this report will prompt us all to look beyond the statistics and to the underlying causes of our failure to nurture happy and healthy children in the UK. These children represent the future of our country and from the findings of this report they are in poor health, unable to maintain loving and successful relationships, feel unsafe and insecure, have low aspirations and put themselves at risk.
"It is time to stop demonising children and young people for what goes wrong and start supporting them to make positive choices. To bring an end to the confusing messages we give to young people about their role, responsibility and position in society and ensure that every child feels valued and has their rights respected."
The Unicef team assessed the treatment of children in six different areas - material wellbeing; health and safety; educational wellbeing, family and peer relationships, behaviours and risks; and the young people's own perceptions of their wellbeing.
The Netherlands tops the league, followed by Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Spain. The bottom five are Portugal, Austria, Hungary, the US and the UK.
Nine countries, all of them in northern Europe, have brought child poverty down below 10%, the report shows. But it remains at 15% in the three southern European countries - Portugal, Spain and Italy - and in the UK, Ireland and the US. Child poverty is a relative measure that shows how far their standard of living has fallen below the national average.
The Unicef report adds: "The evidence from many countries persistently shows that children who grow up in poverty are more vulnerable: specifically, they are more likely to be in poor health, to have learning and behavioural difficulties, to underachieve at school, to become pregnant at too early an age, to have lower skills and aspirations, to be low paid, unemployed and welfare-dependent."
The Conservatives seized on the report, claiming that it endorsed their attack on the way in which Gordon Brown had addressed the issue of child poverty, and the prime minister had demonised the role of children in his drive against antisocial behaviour.
The shadow chancellor, George Osborne, said: "This report tells the truth about Brown's Britain. After 10 years of his welfare and education policies, our children today have the lowest wellbeing in the developed world."
Labour said it had taken 700,000 people out of child poverty and was mounting an unprecedented investment programme in a network of children's centres. A government spokesman argued that in many cases the data use d in the report was several years old and "does not reflect more recent improvements in the UK such as the continuing fall in the teenage pregnancy rate or in the proportion of children living in workless households".
Some of the most shocking findings concern the relationships children and adolescents have with their family and peers. The UK is bottom of the 21 countries.
This, says Unicef, "is as difficult to measure as it is critical to wellbeing".
To attempt to score countries, the experts have focused on children's own reports of how much time their parents spend "just talking" to them, how many say they eat the main meal of the day with their parents more than once a week and the percentages of 11, 13 and 15-year-olds who find their peers "kind and helpful". UK parents do reasonably well on "talking regularly" - 60% of children say they chat, putting Britain 12th in the league table. But while a similar proportion say they eat together more than once a week, the UK lags towards the bottom of the league, with Italy, Iceland and France at the very top end.
The report presents a sad picture of relationships with friends, which are so important to children. Not much more than 40% of the UK's 11, 13 and 15-year-olds find their peers "kind and helpful", which is the worst score of all the developed countries.
The UK takes bottom place "by a considerable distance" for the number of young people who smoke, abuse drink and drugs, engage in risky sex and become pregnant at too early an age. For 16 out of 17 OECD countries with the data, between 15% and 28% of young people have had sex by the age of 15. For the UK, the figure is 40%.
On education, the UK comes 17th out of 21. At the age of 15, British children score relatively well on reading, mathematical and scientific literacy. But more than 30% of 15- to 19-year-olds are not in education or training and are not looking beyond low-skilled work.