OH dear! What a ridiculous headline...

My daughter is a single parent and my granddaughter (8 years old) is certainly a credit to her.

 

You have to look at the questions, how they’re asked, and how they reply to the person/s questioned. Kurnsberg committed the ultimate sin in my eyes when as already mentioned she showed her political bias. I’ve always been of the opinion that the BBC has always had a slight bias to whoever is the Govt if the day, however, these last few years it ‘s gone way beyond that. It’s not just interviewing MPs either.

 

Total ****,If that’s your opinion then I feel sorry for you.

 

I very much doubt that some of these children are eating meals that require both a knife and fork. I’m thinking finger foods such as nuggets and chips, crisps, hot dogs, sandwiches etc. or their parents are simply cutting it up into small portions before feeding it out of habit and possibly to prevent choking. The children can almost certainly use a fork but I feel this is specifically meaning a knife and fork together which is a difficult skill for a young child who struggle to cut up their own food but who can chase food around their plate with a fork and stab at it with it just fine.

 

I don't know about the Kuenssberg incident you're talking about so if you've got a link I'd be happy to give my opinion on it. However, on the whole I'd say the BBC get most things right. It's a tightrope which I can forgive anyone for occasionally falling off.

 

I had written a long post in defence of parents but having just taken a call without having posted it, it has gone.

Probably for the best, I’ve no desire to get into an argument.

But there’s a lot of parent bashing on this thread, and a lot from folk who appear to be an older generation who were brought up, and brought kids up, in a markedly different world than the one we find ourselves in today.

 

It SHOULD be nothing to do with lockdown but it IS to do with lockdown.

 

The thrust of that article was that some kids social skills have deteriorated under lockdown - hence the attention grabbing headline. There was also an undercurrent in the article that some kids have benefitted from lockdown. So, I see nothing wrong with the article per se except the headline itself. The real question is about the roles of parents and the roles of school here. If some parents are crap (which some are) or some parents are weak/ineffective (which some are) should anything be done by other agencies e.g. schools to address the issues? If nothing is done to compensate for crap or struggling parents then we really do let the children down don't we?

 

I’m on about your apparent refusal to see anything other than the parent’s fault. Ok ****

 

I have two aswell and one who doesn't speak so I know what you mean. But it's not a different argument to me. Lots of children with Autism for example go undiagnosed or are in mainstream school settings. I'm sure this is true for other disabilities too.
The collateral damage from closing schools hits everyone.

 

That about sums up my point as well.

 

We

Well there was one in particular where she was rounded upon, I don’t have a link just remember it at the time. Just because it was against Corbyn apparently it didn’t matter. If they can’t walk the tightrope they shouldn’t be on it. Unfortunately many people hang on to their summaries without question.

 

Yes she was.

 

Seriously the rot set in with the advent of central heating. I am serious. In winter ,for most people the warm room in the house was the kitchen or the living room. Bedrooms were often cold and so families gathered in front of the fire, watched TV listened to the radio, played games. once central heating arrived kids wanted to be in their own space, watching their own TV, listening to their music and then when computers came along, play games etc. Socialising within the family became secondary so their social skills came from peer groups and school and less so from mature adults and parents. As for someone on here saying you learn social skills from peer groups in the context of toilet training and using cutlery- Twaddle!!! I have yet to see a 4, 5 or 6 year old who has been taught those skills by another 4, 5 or 6 year old.

A few on here seem to equate poor parenting and emotional neglect of their kids with deprivation and/or single parents. My wife pointed out that there are plenty of examples of schools in good catchment areas with behavioural issues worse than those in so-called 'poor' areas, (often depicted as council estates). Often children of parents who are career driven substitute time with their children with material things like games consoles, expensive designer clothes, the latest Smartphones etc but deprive them of the things they really need including teaching the value of what is important. Conversely there are many single parents and couples in difficult financial circumstances who for that very reason, are aware of what is important in life and spend time with their kids and teach them values. There are exceptions on both sides of course but the relationship between parenting and deprivation vs affluence exists but tends towards being the opposite of what some people believe.
When my wife retired she did a short spell of supply teaching in and around the Barnsley area whilst we renovated and were selling our house ready for the move to Italy. Without naming names there were some schools she was reluctant to work at more than once and others she happily went more than once when the heads asked for her to come back again. A couple of her favourites were in some of the 'roughest' areas by reputation and she said the "kids were a joy to teach", respectful eager to learn and, most importantly most of the parents fully engaged. One or two other areas where she thought they would be good experiences, parents were disconnected (some did not even bother to turn up for parents evenings even when offered flexible times and days to accomodate them. and the kids were a nightmare and difficult to get back into line (and my wife was no pushover and knew how to control kids afte 37 years on the front line!)

 

I remember my wife telling that many, many years ago at a school wher she was teaching, there was another teacher supervising the school dinners and telling kids off for eating peas with the fork turned over i.e. scooping up the peas, saying it was "bad manners" (In fact Debretts and general etiquette dictates that the correct way to eat peas IS to invert the fork -the reason it is curved in the first place)
My wife said it was distressing (albeit quite funny) watching the poor little mites chasing the, by now 'stone cold', peas around the plate trying to get them to stay on the fork as they would keep rolling of the downward curve. All all the time they were being shouted at by said supervisor for spilling the peas everywhere. being a probationer at the time my wife did not feel confident to point out to the teacher the 'error of her ways'

It is hard enough to eat peas that way as an adult never mind for kids.

 

I think I’m the only person on here to mention social interaction with peers... if so you have got the wrong end of my point. I merely said that’s what was missing from the students when not at school. However, I also think the fact that you’re the only one shitting your pants in the class at age 4, 5 or 6... the rest of the class will exert peer pressure to not be that person shitting themselves in the class.

Obviously there can be extenuating circumstances. But many social skills are learnt by being in social situations.

 

Aside from the argument about presenters' salaries, MOTD is still the only place where a huge proportion of football fans get their fix of PL football. Even the most 'super' of Super-Sundays on Sky don't come close to their viewing figures. Why would you deny all those people a chance to watch the PL?