There are usually better ways of introducing parents to better Parent Effectiveness Training and not necessarily in an election year or when delinquent offspring have already got into trouble.Parents of at risk children that now belong to teenage gangs would be required to attend special counselling classes to learn how to manage their delinquent offspring, under a federal Labor plan to reduce the level of street crime.
In an election-year pitch designed to show he will be tough on crime, Mark Latham yesterday promised to introduce parental responsibility contracts if elected, claiming they had reduced by half the level of street crime in Britain.
If the ALP are serious then better parenting skills for all parents is a good idea not just to raise children or to wedge children out of trouble but to form a better understanding about themselves, their partners, family friends and other community members.
During an Australia Day speech, the Opposition leader also flagged plans to rewrite the Citizenship Act in an attempt to give new Australians a better sense of what their rights and responsibilities are.
But what has the Citizenship Act got to do with "respect" for all things in our wonderful Universe? Isn't that what our rights and responsibilities are? To respect all things?
The plan was immediately attacked by, [war criminal], John Howard as "dangerously Orwellian" with the Prime Minister claiming it was impossible to legislate patriotism.
States to cooperate on school curriculums but social skills don't rate?
CIVICS AND CITIZENSHIP
What is Civics and Citizenship Education? Civics and Citizenship Education focuses on What it means to be a citizen of Australia. NOT WHAT IT MEANS TO RESPECT A CITIZEN OF AUSTRALIA. How our system of government works. HERE ARE THE RULES! How Australian democracy evolved, and How to take part in the public affairs of Australia. NOT HOW TO RELATE AND HOW TO RESOLVE CONFLICT. Civics and Citizenship will be the first teaching program for 2003 developed as part of The Australian's resource program for schools. The program provides teachers and students the opportunity to examine and discuss a variety of issues relating to civics and citizenship, including:
But patriotism has nothing to do with raising children to respect others. John Howard's patriotism is more like the US Patriot Act.
`Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT ACT) Act of 2001'
Howard went on to say, "If you try and say as a matter of law what people's obligations as a citizen are, you're getting into dangerously regulatory territory."
The debate over citizenship forms part of a wider debate between the two political combatants over what are appropriate national values. The Prime Minister last week provoked a storm of protest after he attacked public schools for being value-neutral and too politically correct.
But John Howard's values are based on lies and the kids know it! It is in front of the children's faces every day this past year or two. As long as you lie you are a citizen. How patriotic is that? Howard's contradictory lesson "bad example to children" you bet! Howard then goes on to say early this year that,
"If you compromise on something that is fundamental you don't win improved behaviour, from people who have misbehaved in the past."
Like weapons of mass distraction John? Bad lesson! Like children overboard John? Bad lesson! But still "Patriotic" that's if you're a "good citizen" John?
Mr Latham, who is trying to forge a new political direction which in part aims to contrast his age difference -- 22 years -- with the Prime Minister, said he was keen to foster a "very active debate" about the rights and responsibilities of those taking out Australian citizenship.
"Rights and responsibilities are at the centre of our citizenship. One of the problems of the current Citizenship Act is that it fails to recognise this reality," he said, during his Australia Day speech. "It lacks a clear statement of purpose and intent."
The Labor plan to make parents more responsible for the actions of troubled children builds on a model embraced by the Gallop Government in Western Australia. Mr Latham also referred to a British model which he said had reduced by 50 per cent the number of offences committed by children.
In what appears a response to the rash of street crime, particularly in the outer suburbs of Sydney and other big cities, Mr Latham said it was incumbent on parents to take greater responsibility for their children.
"For a small number of families, the problem is more severe. Things have got out of hand and the children are out of control," he said.
By Respect 27 Jan 04
THE CHICKEN: Parent Effectiveness Training by Thomas Gordon PHD is a good model for parents to raise their children.
THE EGG: There are up to three generations of Australian parents who cannot pass on social skills to their children, because they don't have these skills to pass on to their children. Perhaps better policy when legislating? More money for education would solve the problem. After all, prevention is better than Mr Latham's cure.
Related:
No excuse for Indigenous violence: Quartermaine
The acting head of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission says domestic violence in Indigenous communities has reached epidemic proportions.
Jordan's death could have been prevented
His extensive facial injuries and fractured ribs suggested he had been dragged face down over carpet or a sofa and punched hard in the abdomen. It was (alleged) Hoerler then set about crushing Jordan's little toes one by one with a fan clamp but was that true?
But there are Keys!
Charles Dickens said, "Life is a secret and you haven't got the key." "And you never will have." True, that you cannot see or know your future! But there are keys and you may need them in order to survive. Also the skills you have are the resources you have to survive events that occur in your life. Some people don't get through it. Some people do. Some people have better results than others do.
Valuing children now!
The 2001 legislation specified where a child could legally be hit, which only perpetuates the view that physical punishment is normal and a parent's right, Bernadette Saunders, of the Child Abuse and Family Violence Research Unit at Monash University, says.
Development problems hit 1 in 4 kids: study
Australian of the Year Fiona Stanley has described the results of a groundbreaking study into child development as frightening.
WHEN THE PUNISHMENT IS THE CRIME AND PLANTING THE SEED In New South Wales today if you get into trouble with the law you have little or no defence. Unless you're wealthy enough to get yourself a lawyer and even then the odds you will escape justice are minimal because of the infrastructure and resource of the government opposed to your Legal Aid Status. I am not saying Legal Aid cannot help you but I am saying they have become overworked and under resourced.
Zero Tolerance for Families
A three-strikes plan, which uses the threat of fines and jail to (force) parents to meet their parental obligations after divorce, could be introduced under a draft proposal from the parliamentary committee charged with reviewing the Family Law Act.
Australia to tackle child abuse and rescue impoverished children?
A national report on child protection in the Northern Territory has blasted the system, saying it has abandoned the most impoverished children and families in Australia.
ATSIC call to smack kids?
The ATSIC commissioner said the high levels of regulation was not unlike the attention focused on Aboriginal families that led to the creation of a Stolen Generation of Aboriginal people. Mr Hill said he did not condone violence and admitted he did not smack his own children, but he stressed he wanted the issue of child discipline debated among Aboriginal people and community leaders.
No-Smacking Day for Children in NSW
Patmalar Ambikapathy the Children's Commissioner, HOBART Tasmania spoke to Gregory Kable a caseworker at Justice Action at the Controlling Crime Conference at Redfern in Sydney yesterday and we both realised how parallel our ideas about crime prevention were.
States to cooperate on school curriculums but social skills don't rate? State and territory education ministers say Federal Education Minister Brendan Nelson's heavy-handed threats to school funding will not assist their ambitious initiative to develop consistent school curriculum’s in key subjects.
NSW education professor warns further commitment needed
The author of a report on the New South Wales education system has urged the major political parties to do more for education in the election campaign.
Fiona Stanley, the children's crusader
It is all about prevention. As Fiona Stanley sees it, with one in five Australian teenagers experiencing significant mental health problems, there are just not enough treatment services to cope with the demand.
Parents call for feedback on social skills
Parents are calling for the same level of feedback on their children's social development as on their academic progress, according to a national survey.
Alcohol is just the beginning
People who start using alcohol by their mid teens are more than twice as likely as others to experiment with different drugs and to become dependent on drugs a major Australian study has found.
The punishment: Is the 'crime'
The punishment is the crime according to retired chief Justice of the Family Court of Australia Justice Alistair Nicholson. "Smacking a child ought to be seen as assault".
RESTORING TRUE JUSTICE:
Australian prisons are fast becoming the new asylums of the third millennium. The prison industry is booming, while Australia spends far less on mental health services than similar countries.
The Seed
Respect, you only get out what you have put in. What about Life Skills, Communication and Conflict Resolution. Evolution, perhaps some children and adults miss the whole or part of the course. I did, and so how surprised do you think I was when I realised my parents missed the course as well. Things like Compromise, Win Win, Empathy, and Love. Invisible energy and other skills like public speaking, how to Relate, Assuming, Blaming, Forgiveness, Freedom and Discrimination. This is how I learned respect. If you don't know what it is then how do you relate?
