issue: play
Monday 1 March 2010
The myth of racist kids
The problem with anti-bullying and anti-racist policies
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.
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
Wednesday 29 July 2009
Bullying the public
The latest NSPCC/ChildLine initiative on bullied children presents both adults and kids as toxic beings.
Friday 24 April 2009
It’s time to move beyond the nature/nurture divide
In advising parents to ignore hectoring experts, Judith Rich Harris’s book still packs a punch 10 years on. But its use of evolutionary theory and social psychology to explain how people are ‘shaped’ leaves much to be desired.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.