issue: children and risk



Thursday 8 July 2010


Set children free by trusting adults

We can only give kids the independence they need if we have faith in other people to look out for them.

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Thursday 27 May 2010


Sorry, but it can be GOOD for children to be bullied

Daily Mail

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Monday 1 March 2010


The myth of racist kids

The problem with anti-bullying and anti-racist policies

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Friday 26 February 2010


Racialising the playground

A brave new book challenges the introduction of anti-racist policies in British schools, arguing that they blow everyday spats out of proportion and split kids along ethnic lines.

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Tuesday 4 August 2009


Let the Children Play

Adults’ fears and mistrust are the reason our youngsters can no longer enjoy free-roaming summer holidays, says Helene Guldberg in The Independent

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Wednesday 29 July 2009


Bullying the public

The latest NSPCC/ChildLine initiative on bullied children presents both adults and kids as toxic beings.

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Monday 2 February 2009


The mother of all interventions

We should roundly reject the new UK report which argues that time-stretched parents are producing damaged children.

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Monday 29 December 2008


‘Autistic children are now seen as a burden’

Dr Michael Fitzpatrick, author of Defeating Autism, talks to Helene Guldberg about how raising a child with autism can be made infinitely harder – emotionally, financially and practically – by the charlatanic ‘war on autism’.

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Monday 17 November 2008


Don’t outlaw boisterous
banter in the playground

As Britain launches another Anti-Bullying Week, the author of Reclaiming Childhood says demonising teasing can do more harm than good.

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Wednesday 6 August 2008


Don't blame parents for
'cotton-wool kids'

Today is Playday, a celebration of children’s ‘right to play’ - and an ideal time to have a kickabout with the culture of fear that imprisons our kids.

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Thursday 3 January 2008


Shooting down the feminist Thought Police?

The UK government says adults should chill out and let boys play with toy guns. But who made us so uptight about kids’ play in the first place?

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Wednesday 14 November 2007


A playground tumble can do you good

More experts recognise that a scraped knee can be a positive experience for a child. Let’s hope they now relax about other ‘dangers’ in kids’ lives.

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Tuesday 16 October 2007


The myth of stressed and depressed schoolkids

If we’re not careful, claims that young people can’t cope with the ‘intense pressure’ of exams could become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

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Friday 24 August 2007


A childish panic about the next generation

Many of those fretting over the state of contemporary childhood, concerned that kids are passive, cooped up and sedentary, are motivated by naked nostalgia - sometimes even by snobbery.

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Monday 11 June 2007


Are children being held hostage by parental fears?

A new report calls on parents to let their kids venture out unsupervised. That might be easier if scaremongering officials put a sock in it.

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Monday 19 March 2007


A tick-box attitude to toddlers

When even infants are expected to achieve ‘69 early learning goals’, you know that no area of life is free from New Labour’s tyranny of targets.

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