Telegraph.co.uk | 'take the afternoon off, go home and make a baby'

Russians are urged to take the afternoon off, go home and make a baby
By Adrian Blomfield in Moscow

'The governor of a Russian province gave workers an afternoon off and told them to go home and multiply in the most direct attempt yet by officials seeking to tackle the country's growing depopulation crisis.
Bureaucrats have been dreaming up ever more imaginative schemes to help reverse the trend ever since President Vladimir Putin identified Russia's demographic crisis – caused in part by soaring levels of alcoholism – as the country's biggest threat. [...]'
Telegraph.co.uk (Filed: 22/09/2006)

NYTimes.com | Children of Rich Learn Class, Minus the Struggle

By Howard W. French
'SHANGHAI, Sept. 21 — Every weekday this summer, Rose Lei drove her daughter, Angelina, 5, to a golf complex at the edge of central Shanghai for a two-hour, $200 individual lesson with a teaching pro from Scotland.
But now that the school year has started, little Angelina will have to cut back on the golf, limiting herself to weekend sessions at a local driving range. In addition to her demanding school schedule, she will be attending private classes at FasTracKids, an after-school academy for children as young as 4 that bills itself as a junior M.B.A. program.
Ms. Lei, 35, a former information technology expert and the wife of a prosperous newspaper advertising executive, is part of a new generation of affluent parents here who are planning ways to cement their children’s place in a fast-emerging elite.[...]'

NYTimes.com September 22, 2006

Telegraph.co.uk | Punishing children by smacking wins widespread adult approval

By Sarah Womack, Social Affairs Correspondent
'The majority of parents believes smacking is an acceptable way to discipline children, according to the latest research, which also uncovers widespread confusion about the law.
The number of those in favour of smacking was higher among adults without children, 80 per cent of whom said they would support smacking as a punishment if necessary. The number of those in favour of smacking was higher among adults without children.Among parents, the proportion who said they smacked their children fell, but only to 67 per cent.
The survey of 1,939 adults by GFK NOP was conducted for an ITV1 documentary, I Smack and I'm Proud, to be shown tomorrow, which follows five families who say they smack to discipline their children.' [...]

Telegraph.co.uk (Filed: 20/09/2006)

SocietyGuardian.co.uk | Society | Full circle

Hugh Cunningham draws significant historical parallels with today's 'moral panic' over childhood. SocietyGuardian.co.uk | Society | Full circle

www.childrenssociety.org.uk - what we do - the good childhood inquiry - home

Details of 'The Good Childhood Inquiry' launched by 'The Children's Society' have just been published www.childrenssociety.org.uk - what we do - the good childhood inquiry - home

Timesonline.co.uk | Alarm over pupils facing a 50-hour school week

by Alexandra Frean, Education Editor and David Brown
'[...] All schools will have to open from 8am to 6pm within the next four years in an attempt to give state school pupils the same opportunities as those in the private sector. Beverley Hughes, the Children’s Minister, told The Times yesterday that the initiative was so popular that 2,500 schools had signed up ahead of target [...]'
Timesonline.co.uk September 19, 2006

The article cites 'head teachers, staff, union members and campaigners' as raising doubts as to the wisdom of such programmes (indeed, some characterise them as 'child abuse') in view of The Very Rev Dr Rowan Williams's recent description of childhood as being 'in crisis'. Most interesting is the social class edge to the whole thing: Beverley Hughes reminds the public that 'independent schools have always done this'. And although the article says that extended day schools would enable parents to 'work more flexibly' (whatever that means), Frank Gulley is right to point out that the majority of the criticism wrongly compares the experiences of children at extended day schools to those of children in idealized middle-class at-home-parent families. The more appropriate comparison is extended day school compared to the realities latch-key children already face.

'Crisis in modern childhood'

Some more coals on the fire, this time from the premier état. It's interesting to me that the focus here is on mental health alone with no mention of moral health.
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Timesonline.co.uk Archbishop warns of crisis in modern childhood
by Jennie Booth and agencies

'The Archbishop of Canterbury today warned of a crisis in modern childhood forcing youngsters to grow up too quickly.
[...]
The Very Rev Dr Rowan Williams said that a generation of young parents is failing to offer the right level of love and support to their children who, in turn, are becoming "infant adults".
In comments to the BBC Radio 4's Today programme, the Archbishop said that a wide range of different influences, including family separations, the barrage of testing in schools and commercial pressures, were causing children to grow up before their time. [...]'

Timesonline.co.uk September 18 2006

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More coverage:
Guardian Unlimited Archbishop warns of huge pressures on children
Peter Walker and agencies
Guardian Unlimited Monday September 18, 2006

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And a link to The Children's Society's announcement of its Good Childhood Inquiry, of which The Very Rev Dr Rowan Williams is patron; Nation Urged to Join UK's First Inquiry on Childhood

View the full pdf version of the 2006 report of preliminary research which launched the Inquiry at 'Good Childhood? A Question for our times'.

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Is The Good Childhood inquiry intended to test the claims of 'crisis' or merely to substantiate what is already 'known'?