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E-MASQL8: A Cure for the Common Boy

Does your son act too much like a little boy?
Is he fidgety and rambunctious?
Does he have trouble listening or have a puerile sense of humor?
Is he easily distracted?
Does he have a propensity to get dirty?
Does he enjoy playing with violent toys?

If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, then it might be time to medicate your son. Even if he doesn't have ADD or ADHD, you'll most certainly agree that he's annoying.

Well, now you can curb the boyish tendencies in your son and make him almost comatose in the process. E-MASQL8 Plus has been clinically proven to remove in boys all signs of unwanted boyishness. You'll never have to deal with snips, snails, or puppy-dog tails again.

E-MASQ8 Plus: A Cure for the Common Boy

This ad is on the back cover of the current Salvo magazine. Here's the corresponding inside article--S.T. Karnick's discussion of Girly Men: The Media's Attack on Masculinity.

Minnesota Supreme Court spanks anti-smacking lobby

An intriguing case...a Minnesota father who gave his five foot two, 12 year old son three wallopings of 12 swats per time with a wooden spoon has been found not guilty of child abuse.

The child, now 15, denies being abused and says he was simply "a really bad kid" at the time.

But is it ethical?

The abortion debate has a new poster-child:

What does this have to say about how we value the mentally disabled?

It seems a regular occurrence now but the Dominion Post reports on a teacher caught using a school computer to watch porn involving boys.

He is no longer a teacher, having been de-registered after being caught, by pupils of the school as it happens.

I wouldn't normally have bothered with this except for this, it being a common enough occurrence in this day and age it seems.

But

The teacher - who resigned and now works for an institution that cares for mentally disabled people - had gone into school early in the mornings to prepare for classes "and usually that was all I did", he said.

So he is now working around people even more vulnerable than the  students at his school .  In fact some of the most vulnerable in our society.

And that is a little troublesome to my way of thinking.

Marriage crisis in England and Wales

The British home office have just released the figures for number of marriages performed last year.

And the marriage rate is the lowest since records began.

In absolute numbers England recorded the lowest number of marriages since 1895.

Perhaps the reason is this

The decrease in the number of marriages was attributed partly to a change in the law in February 2005, designed to crack down on "sham" marriages carried out for purposes such as securing a visa.

Or perhaps there is a much deeper underlying problem.

Before Christ was born Augustus Caesar recognized the key to a successful society was the family and children.  Our elites today  have totally lost sight of this or no longer care. 

Which is why the inheritors of tomorrow may well come from the third world where they still do care.

A story from BBC land that pushes all my buttons

The Greek government under pressure from the EU is about to enact legislation that will give co-habiting couples the same rights under Greek legislation as married ones.

Of course in New Zealand this has been the case for many years - the real effect being that a marriage certificate is not worth the paper it is printed on.

Still in Greece the Church has not succombed to liberalism in the manner of many of the western churches and is speaking out loudly and strongly.

The Greek Orthodox Church has expressed opposition to plans by the Athens government to give greater rights to unmarried couples.

The Church's governing synod said it considered all common-law marriages to be tantamount to "prostitution".

The government proposes to give common-law couples the same rights as those who have gone through legal or religious ceremonies.

It wants to harmonise Greek law to European standards.

Well that's pretty plain speaking from the Church.

In its statement, the Church said that the proposal constituted a "catastrophic bomb" under the foundations of Greek society.

The homosexual lobby in Greece are not happy either

The draft legislation is also opposed by Greece's homosexual community on the basis of discrimination, as it only takes account of heterosexual couples. 

All of which provides context to this comment of mine on a previous thread in response to Psycho Milt and of course demonstrates how the EU is imposing its norms on its newly acquired  territories in Eastern Europe  bit by bit.

Antonio Gramsci must be proud to see his agenda spreading across Europe but somehow I do not see a socialist utopia emerging as he envisaged.

Rather a vacuum that will be filled by by something far nastier.

Cindy Kiro sent to the woodshed

Cindy Kiro thinks the anti smacking legislation is good.

She said so before  a Parliamentary select committee yesterday.

Cindy Kiro commented on the controversial legislation before a Parliamentary Select Committee today. She said the new legislation has had a significant impact on the work done by her office but she is confident the legislation is having a positive impact.

Dr Kiro says despite the quite vicious and at times divisive debate, public attitudes are changing. She also believes recent public campaigns against family violence are succeeding.

She had some 'splaing to do however.

Her office has failed to produce it annual report to Parliament on child Poverty in New Zealand and its Compliance report on the rights of the Child for the UN.

Judith Collins had the impertinence to suggest that Her office's failure in this regard might be related to the number of overseas trips Ms Kiro has taken during the period the reports cover. Eight in total.

I can relate to Cindy Kiro though, a trip to Greece on the taxpayer's dime has far more appeal  than writing a boring old UN compliance report.

Raising children and referenda

Over 600,000 signatures were presented to Parliament yesterday asking for a referendum on the criminalization of parents physically disciplining their children.

This is more than enough to see a citizens referendum on this issue, which should be held at that same time as the general election this year.

Let's see if the ruling elite find a way to dodge this by delaying tactics and procrastination.

Of course citizens initiated referenda are not binding but they do send a message. In fact the level of support this petition has attracted sends a message in itself.

If nothing else having this on the ballot will ensure that I enter the polling booth later this year - I have actually voted in every election since I became eligible and was actually in the country at election time, But darned if I know who is worth voting for. It is easy to see who not to vote for, obvious in fact, but who to support instead is not apparent to this voter yet.

In a related matter  is this press release from Jigsaw released late last night.

Their headline says it all "Families Best Placed To Spark Children’s Dreams".

I had not heard of Jigsaw before I saw this but if the opening paragraph of their press release underpins the philosophy of the organization then I would say they are on the right track and a worthy of support.

Jigsaw CEO Strategic Operations, Liz Kinley says that while community organisations like Jigsaw will always be here to provide support and help with parenting issues, it is families themselves who are best placed to spark their children’s dreams.

“Between July 2006 and June 2007 Jigsaw’s 24 member agencies worked with over 6500 families helping them to raise their children in ways that enabled them to thrive and we are here to do the same in 2008. Whether there was violence in their homes, or parents wanting some positive parenting advice, our local Jigsaw agencies were always there in their local community, offering help and support in the way that best met the particular needs of each family and their children.

And this is the type of thinking that will help solve the problems families face in New Zealand, not the shotgun approach legislation punishing ordinary parents for their imperfections.

Any organization is only as good as the people who work in it and generally speaking this starts at the top.

So color me impressed with CEO, Liz Kenley's opening words and lets hope that what she is suggesting can be delivered by the grass roots members of Jigsaw.

Because I am convinced this is the way to go and has a lot to offer in resolving the issues New Zealand faces in raising of children into fully functioning adults.

Retirement village stuck with sex offender

From this mornings Dominion comes this story of a kiddie fiddler convicted and sentenced to home detention.

The trouble is the man is elderly and lives in an Anglican retirement village.

And the details of his contract with the retirement village preclude his eviction.

So they are stuck with him.

Of course a custodial sentence would have solved everybody's problems, now as it is I suppose people taking their children to visit grandparents in this particular retirement village will at a minimum feel a sense of ill ease as probably will those upon who they are calling. It wouldn't be at all surprising if residents of this village now see less of their small relatives than they used too.

They should build a special retirement village for those who offend against societies norms.

On second thoughts they have, its called prison.

How much does our society value parenting?

When I was a kid an everyday sight was to see prams and pushchairs  hung from the front of the bus.

A mother would alight kids in tow and the driver would leave his seat to unhook the pram. Usually interacting with the woman and her children as he did so. It was part of his job and an everyday thing.

There are many reasons why this is not so usual now I suppose.  Women are more likely to have cars for one. Smaller families are another.

But readers of this Blog will be fully aware that it is the opinion of this blogger that we no longer value the family in the way we should.  Motherhood has almost become a dirty word and the title housewife as all but disappeared from our lexicon.  Where it is required and cannot be avoided on an official form or in a news story it has been replaced by cringeworthy Homemaker.

It would seem the idea of the stay at home mom and the breadwinning father is a thing of the dark past.

Instead of child rearing being the central feature of our most productive years it takes second or even third place in our thinking of what life is about - both for males and females.

Biology dictates that females play the central role in a child's earliest years supported hopefully (but ever more increasingly not) by a nurturing male.

As children develop though fathers can and should play a bigger part in a child's development.  And this is important too.

But everyday concerns, some to do with our own selfish interests get in the way.

One thing from my own personal experience is the fulfillment I have found supporting my children in their sporting and cultural pursuits, in my case ballet, violin (which can be excruciating in the early stages of a child's learning) and of course cricket and rugby.

But there have been many occasions where I have been absent from a concert or game because of work demands. Sometimes this has been reasonable, sometimes not.  Sometimes my this has been my fault but at others something I have been compelled to do by others.

Some years ago i was working for an unpleasant man who took exception to the photographs of my family that I had on my desk.  His opinion was"work spaces" were for work not "personal items".  Idiot that he was he didn't realize that those photographs were a reminder to me of why I was working in that job which I didn't enjoy particularly, in the first place.  Don't worry I didn't stay there long.

But perhaps he is an extreme example of a malaise that does afflict our society, the loss of sight of the fundamental importance of raising children and the value of the family to our future.

Further reading: Parents feeling undervalued by society