'Children behaving like animals' - survey

'Children behaving like animals' - survey

STEVE DOWNES

18 November 2008 09:00

“Let's sort these parasites out”. “To hell with their human rights”..
“Shoot a few and if that doesn't work, shoot a few more”.

They are the sort of comments you expect to hear when certain people
talk about paedophiles, child murderers or - in the most distasteful
outbursts - immigrants.

Most of us would write the statements off as either made up, said as
jokes in dubious taste or the rabid rants of a few extremists.

But the comments were all taken from chat sites on the internet and
were all made about - children.

And, though there is no suggestion that many people are tempted to
join the lunatics on a child-shooting spree, a survey by Barnardo's
shows how deeply ingrained are unsavoury attitudes towards the very
people on whom Britain's future prosperity rests.

The poll of 2,021 adults, conducted by YouGov, showed that 53pc
believed children were beginning to behave like animals, while 49pc
said children were increasingly dangerous both to each other and to
adults.

And 45pc thought children were “feral” in their behaviour, while 43pc
said adults needed protection from children.

The findings come hot on the heels of the publication of the British
Crime Survey, which showed that people blamed children for “up to half
of all crime” when they were only to blame for 12pc.

Barnardo's chief executive Martin Narey said: “It is appalling that
words like 'animal', 'feral' and 'vermin' are used daily in reference
to children.

“Despite the fact that most children are not troublesome there is
still a perception that today's young people are a more unruly,
criminal lot than ever before.

“The British public overestimates, by a factor of four, the amount of
crime committed by young people. The real crime is that this sort of
talk and attitude does nothing to help those young people who are
difficult, unruly or badly behaved to change their ways.”

By coincidence, Premiership footballers Rio Ferdinand and Shaun Wright
Phillips have this week joined a Prince's Trust campaign to support
Britain's much-maligned teenagers.

The trust launched its first Youth Week in a bid to counter negative
perceptions of youngsters following fatal teenage knife, gun and gang
attacks in recent years.

Manchester United and England defender Ferdinand, a trust ambassador,
said: “We cannot ignore recent events, resulting in the tragic deaths
of 28 kids in London alone.

“However, there are around seven million young people in the UK and
the majority of them make a positive difference to society.”

Manchester City's Wright Phillips said: “If we keep telling kids that
they are layabouts and losers, there is a real danger that they will
believe they can't do anything different.”

It is clearly wrong to tar so many children with the same brush as
those who are out of control.

But are adults right to be so fearful of the next generation?

The relentless headlines about teenage knife killings and gangs of
youngsters intimidating people on the streets heighten the perception
of a problem.

And figures released by the Department for Children, Schools and
Families (DCSF) show a 27pc increase in the number of new young
offenders entering the criminal justice system between 2003/4 and
2007/8 - up from 4,940 to 6,734.

Many people could also testify to incidents where they have tried to
remonstrate with young people misbehaving near their homes - only to
get a volley of abuse or even violence.

But the truth is, most children and young people are not troublesome.

They may not all be eager to tidy their bedrooms or help with the
washing up, but the vast majority attend school, take part in extra-
curricular activities and volunteer in their communities. In fact,
children and young people do more unpaid voluntary work than any other
age group.

Respect is a two-way street.

Adults demand respect from children, often simply because they are
older than them. But if people write off youngsters as parasites or
vermin, is it any wonder that some youngsters have no respect for
their elders?

Also, it is worth remembering that children do not bring themselves up
(though some endure such appalling care that they have to). They are
brought up by the very people who are giving them such a hard time in
the survey - adults.

Barnardo's has an ongoing campaign called “believe in children”.

At the moment, perhaps there are too many people who believe the
worst. Believe the best and you might just get a pleasant surprise.

http://new.edp24.co.uk/content/News/story.aspx?brand=EDPOnline&category=News&tBrand=edponline&tCategory=news&itemid=NOED18%20Nov%202008%2009%3A47%3A50%3A377

***
WM
www.critest.com
.

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