One of the first things I heard when I turned the radio on this morning was that yet another 'child' has been stabbed in London, the radio used the word teenager , the word young man was used on another station but he was a child, I still call my 14 year old my child and that's what they, they are our children and instead of focusing on knife crime, black on black crime, gang crime or whatever title the media have decided to call it Today,we should be asking ourselves and our children why they seem to think that the way to solve an issue, prove themselves or their status or their gangs status is to take a life!
As a society we immediately start to place blame, we blame the parents, the environment, the lack of discipline, they weren't hugged enough, computer games glorify violence you name it and someone somewhere will blame it for the breakdown of values but what happened to personal responsibility? We need to figure out why our children and they are 'our children' they are the next generation of adults who will either choose to be a positive member of society or continue on the path of negative behaviour and attitude are choosing this life.
I live in one of these so called crime hotspots, I've worked in the education system and I can tell you that for the most part these children that have been labelled negatively when you speak to them one on one they are not bad kids, they have hopes they have aspirations but all too often they feel a little lost and unheard by those around them even by some of the do-gooders who think that by taking them horse riding or to the theatre they will turn themselves around, I think and this is a personal opinion that we need, especially in London to be asking questions of our children from a young age not all families work as a unit, not all parents care and nuture as much as they should but the one common place where we get our kids is school and the government should put some REAL funding into making sure that from as young as nursery age in a safe age appropriate way we talk about consequences, empathy, communication
and the value of life!
You may think I'm talking complete codswallop if so please tell me , I'm genuinely interested in your opinions.
Being American, I do not know what codswallop is. Is it anything like gobsmack? If I may be so bold, a place where, from as young as nursery age, in a safe age appropriate way, we talk about consequences, empathy, communication, and the value of life just might be CHURCH (where fewer and fewer people seem to go, which might be part of the problem).
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