Chatter
Matters
Elsewhere
in this issue we are carrying a story prepared by the National
Child Minding Association (NCMA) for National Childminding Week,
which took place in late June. The theme this year was Chatter
Matters and there were NCMA activities around the country
in conjunction with ICAN to encourage children by holding Chatterbox
Challenge events. In these ‘chat-alongs,’ children
were sponsored to tell a story, recite a poem, sing a song or
tell a joke and achieve their own Chatterbox Challenge.
We
gather that Chatter Matters is due to be the NCMA’s
Annual Conference theme in Torquay from 11 – 13 November
this year. These events are always busy and friendly, with a
lot of stalls, sessions, opportunities for networking and socialising.
Even at that time of the year, Torquay should be a pleasant
place to head.
A
New Chair for NCMA
NCMA
will be having a new Chair from November onwards. Susanna Dawson,
currently the representative for the Northern Region, (she comes
from the Hexham area) will be taking over from Sue Johnson,
the Acting Chair. It has been a long search to find a suitable
successor to Lynn Daley. The NCMA is now a large and complex
organisation with a big budget, yet childminders as a group
are self-employed small-business people, and their work does
not give them opportunities to learn about the management and
governance of outfits the size of NCMA. Susanna has come up
through the ranks of the Association, and knows how it works;
she is enthusiastic and she has the drive needed to take the
NCMA forward. We wish her well.
Opportunities
It
is fascinating to see the range of electronic material which
bombards editors, as people seek publicity for their particular
interests and activities. Spam filters do, of course, get rid
of the messages from the pill and snake oil merchants, the people
with missing millions to invest if only you will let them have
access to your bank account, and the people offering a variety
of good times. But we still receive lots of press releases and
other items quite properly relating to children and young people.
We
obviously can’t cover them all individually, but the overall
impression they create is important. First, the most obvious,
there is clearly a lot of activity going on, with people putting
an enormous amount of energy into giving children and young
people good experiences and arguing for their rights.
Secondly,
people are being creative in thinking up new products to meet
children’s needs and to entertain them; the variety is
staggering. Think how many hundred years it took for Mesolithic
man to introduce a new form of flint hand-axe; yet there are
new inventions and products coming into our intray every month.
Thirdly,
these opportunities – whether for goods or activities
– are only available to the people with the resources
and the knowledge of how to access them. People in poverty simply
don’t get a look in, whether they live in a debt-ridden
country or slums in a developed one. Without access, they will
remain underfulfilled and not be able to contribute effectively
to their communities or the world as a whole.
Super
to have all these adverts. Now we need to be able to make things
available. Here are a few which have crossed our desk recently.
Paedotrophia
Elsewhere
in this issue we have published an article on Paedotrophia,
a lengthy sixteenth century poem about child-rearing. It might
seem strange to us today, with our prose manuals by Penelope
Leach and Dr Spock, to have advice and facts put into verse,
but through most of history, verse has been used for such purposes.
Cultures
have passed down their history and myths through verse –
the epic of Gilgamesh in Mesopotamia, the Iliad
and Odyssey in Greece or the Kalevala in Finland,
for example. Verse was also used in classical times for instructions,
such as Vergil’s Georgics about farming methods,
or for philosophy in Lucretius’s six-volume De Rerum
Natura. It has been estimated that about 170 of Jesus’s
sayings, if translated back from Greek into Aramaic, were in
verse. More recently, nearly all the earliest major works of
English literature were in verse – Piers Plowman,
Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, or Milton’s
Paradise Lost, for example.
So
why not poems about childcare? Presumably the idea behind these
poems, as against prose story-telling, was that they became
easier to remember when they followed the formats of scansion,
rhyme, alliteration and repeated phrases (such as Homer’s
“wine-dark sea”). So with childcare, won’t
parents and professionals remember advice better if it is in
verse?
The
only recent childcare advice in verse which we can recall is
Hilaire Belloc’s Cautionary Tales, but we doubt
whether following his poems will earn anyone an NVQ. How about
writing a new childcare advice poem to meet the needs of twenty-first
century parents? Maybe we should have poetry competitions again,
as they did in ancient Greece. They could go on television as
an alternative to Big Brother. Now there’s an idea. You
read it here first.
Kielder
Schools
and youth clubs across the UK were invited to enter the 2005
Kielder Challenge – a unique competition for young people
with and without disabilities. The competition was open to teams
of eight 13 to 16 year olds (Year 8 to 11) including four with
and four without learning, sensory or physical disabilities.
They have taken part in one-day heats in local country woods
or parks where they have had to face a series of problem-solving
activities against the clock, such as rope mazes and obstacle
courses. More than 215 schools fielded teams in the heats, but
only 12 teams are progressing to the two-day Grand Final in
the fabulous setting of Kielder Forest, Northumberland in September.
The competition develops the teamwork and communication skills
of young people in a countryside environment and gives them
the opportunity to integrate with other youngsters with and
without disabilities which they may not normally experience.
The Kielder Challenge has been running for 21 years with more
then 10,000 previous participants and is organised by outdoor
access charity the Fieldfare Trust. It is supported by the HSBC
Education Trust.
To get further information, contact :
Richard Gee
Managing Director
GBCS Public Relations Ltd.
Tel: +44 (0)115 9508399
Fax: +44 (0)115 9508933
DDI: +44 (0)115 9508355
Mobile: 07710 328 768
Email: richard@gbcspr.com
Internet: http://www.gbcspr.com
Totseats
We
had a message from Totseats. We admit that we had not heard
of them before, but we gather that they have a new look –
this season’s must-have pink stripes! Totseats are washable,
squashable highchairs and were the recent overall winner of
the Scottish Design Awards. They say that they are really taking
off and with their new look for summer, they’re “just
the thing for taking on hols, lazy days in cafes or going to
granny’s house”. Suitable for children between the
ages of eight and thirty months, they anchor the child in safety
and comfort in an adult chair. They’re easy to use, and
fit most adult chairs. Totseats come with a compact, matching
pocket bag to carry them and are highly portable – fitting
into a pocket or handbag.
Priced at £26 and available from www.totseat.com, John
Lewis stores and selected independent retailers, the Totseat
was developed in close consultation with 900 babies, and chairs,
and many safety experts and complies with EN71: Part 3. It is
also 100% ethically sourced and produced.
RainbowEight
Next, we were contacted by RainbowEight, a family business set
up only a few months ago, who requested a link from our website.
Here it is : http://www.rainboweight.co.uk
RainbowEight
specialise in children’s reward/behaviour charts, chore
charts, potty training charts and other useful items for parents,
home educators, teachers and childcarers. Although based in
Torrington in deepest north Devon, they can ship goods worldwide.
From
Hoodies to Halos
Over 70% of items in the media concerning young people are said
to be negative, so here are a couple of items which buck the
trend, and which probably typify the reality about young people
generally, rather than their media image.
According
to a survey which has just been published, young people are
more interested in progress on poverty, climate control and
an end to conflict than the self-interest of getting more pocket
money, living without rules and having their football team win,
a new survey revealed today. They also identify Jesus as the
figure who represents what it means to be a superhero. The findings
come from a poll of 2,000 four to 14-year old by the children’s
charity 4Children.
The “My Ideal World” Survey, supported by children’s
TV channel Cartoon Network, revealed that 90% of young people
want an end to hunger as their change for an ideal world, while
only 25% saw having no restrictions or rules as the path to
a better life. When asked who had the most heroic qualities,
Jesus was the clear winner with Florence Nightingale and David
Beckham joint runners up. In contrast, music acts fared worst
with Girls Aloud and McFly the least likely to be seen as having
superhero qualities.
The findings were released to launch Shout Out 4Children Week,
organised by 4Children to put children’s views in the
spotlight. Anne Longfield, Chief Executive at 4Children, said,
“This survey shows that young people have strong views
on the world around them with real concerns about the major
issues of poverty, war and the environment. In direct contrast
to the bad press we are so familiar with, the Shout Out 4Children
Campaign shows that young people take respect for others and
the environment seriously – we have a responsibility to
listen to them. With the mass popularity of cause-related wristbands,
and recent campaigns against war and poverty, children and young
people are leading the way in social conscience in this country
demonstrating that it is now ‘Cool to Care’.”
Young
people were asked what they would change to make their world
better:
• 90% want to get rid of hunger.
• 85% want an end to war.
• 85% want to make sure everyone has enough money.
• 83% wanted to stop people smoking.
• 72% wanted graffiti cleaned up.
• 69% wanted a ban on alcohol and drugs.
To get a copy of the survey or for more information please contact:
Erfan Hussain, erfan.hussain@4Children.org.uk, 020 7522 6925
or Katherine Abbott, katherine.abbott@4Children.org.uk, 020
7522 6928.
An
Undeserved Reputation?
Rev. Paul Glass was travelling on a 110 bus in Wakefield and
when he saw a crowd of fifty or sixty pupils getting on, his
heart sank. “‘Here we go’, I thought, ‘loud
kids, foul language, pushing and shoving – it’s
going to be a nightmare’”. He was in for a surprise.
“Efficiently supervised by school staff at the bus stop,
about forty of the pupils got on and I prepared myself for the
worst. Imagine my surprise then, when the group of pupils were
a credit to their school. One vacated his seat for an elderly
passenger to sit down. Two girls showed another passenger the
wrist braids they were making and talked about them. Some boys
on the back seat talked about a maths problem they’d been
set for homework. I could hardly believe my eyes and ears. I
think all too often we’re programmed to expect the worst,
especially where young people are concerned.” Hear, hear.
Thanks are due to Paul Glass, Thomas a Beckett High School staff
and students and the Wakefield Express (24 June 2005,
p.6) for the creation of this everyday success story. How about
the Mail printing it?
Did
You See ...... ?
..... the piece in the Guardian (22 June 2005, p. 9) about grandparents?
Frank Field MP has undertaken a study of grandparents who care
for their grandchildren, pointing out that they often receive
minimal help. Some have to give up work or fall into debt; some
have to postpone retirement. He is urging a flat-rate, means-tested
benefit, to simplify things, and is asking for a wider survey.
Our view is that grandparents have often lost out in all sorts
of ways and that their contribution should be recognised more,
whether it is financially or in care planning or access arrangements.
.....
the story in the Mail (20 June 2005, p.12) about the
14-year-old girl suing Hertfordshire County Council for failure
to safeguard her when she became pregnant while resident in
a special needs boarding school? Robert Ellis, Leader of Hertfordshire
County Council was quoted as describing the case as bizarre,
and saying that “We are in a litigious culture.”
He
may well be right, but the question remains : what we should
do about making amends to people who have suffered inadequate
standards of service? Court action often has little impact on
the workers who have been directly involved in such cases, as
they retire or move on. The authority rarely learns anything
except to become more defensive and unhelpful towards claimants.
The claimants often go through a miserable time reliving unhappy
experiences several times over as the court process rolls on.
The outcome for them at best is usually a few thousand pounds.
If they have suffered enough to obtain such an award, the money
will not have truly compensated for the fear, anger, bitterness
and lost childhood they are likely to have suffered. The present
system on balance brings justice for no one.
....
that a third of Europe’s obese children under the age
of 16 live in the United Kingdom? One million of them, and some
of them are suffering illnesses normally associated with late
middle age. The BMA is calling for Government intervention in
schools, a ban on advertising of junk foods, subsidised fruit
and vegetables, a reduction in salt, sugar and fat levels in
food, more money spent on sport and the control of celebrities
and cartoon characters in the promotion of unhealthy foods.
Campaigns
of this sort raise major questions. At one level, the message
is clear and the advice is sound. But is it for the Government
to carry the can? Surely it is up to parents and children to
eat and exercise sensibly, as many in fact do. Then it might
be argued that the Government should create the right circumstances
for people to behave sensibly. But if so, will it be accused
of being a nanny who knows best? But then, what if nanny does
know best? After all, not only children, but adults, indulge
themselves and develop bad habits. Maybe people need someone
to tell them what is good for them. Does this mean that other
Europeans are more self-controlled, sensible and mature, and
do not need a nanny to mind them? The indulgences and loutishness
of some young British people when off the leash on holiday abroad
suggests that there are still repressive expectations which
inhibit them when in England. Is the nation dividing into two
– some becoming fitter and better educated with the potential
to earn more, while others are becoming uneducated bottle-happy
slouches who need ASBOs to contain their conduct? The questions
never end.
From
the Files
Taken
from a job application submitted by a female candidate :
I
am a member of a web chap room....
Tell
us more.
