Friday, 23 October 2009

Get Up and Grow, Big Brother says so...

Penned by Psych Babbler™ at 9:00 AM
The Federal Government obviously does not have much work to do.

If they did, they wouldn't be spending valuable time coming up with a load of shit such as this --- the Get up and Grow guides for parents. So now, not only do parents have to parent their kids by never smacking them, they also need to
- Ensure that toddlers do not watch any television (yes, and that means, they need to stay in their bedrooms when you are watching telly),
- Ensure that 2 to 5 year olds watch only an hour of telly (and then you entertain them at work or in the kitchen...and definitely let them get under your feet when you are trying to clean the house or do the laundry)
- Babies need to be exercised from when they are a year old. Baby-gym anyone?? Sounds like a good business prospect...
- Toddlers need at least 3 hours of active play.
- Eensure that parents do not force their children to eat a meal or snack. This has got to be the worst! So now, we are going to have kids saying they don't want to eat their veggies and it's okay 'coz Ruddy says so! For fucks sake!

There's probably a whole lot more but I will have to get my hands on one of these books for that. It just gets me really annoyed that they spend valuable hours and resources on this crap when they could just run parenting programs which teaches the basics on rewards and consequences for parents. And spend more energy targetting specific problem areas by providing funding to the health department and NGOs and training more professionals to work with families.

What next?
- If your child doesn't want to do their homework, don't force them?
- If your child finds their homework too hard, do it for them?
- If your teenager hits you, don't restrain them? (yes, it happens...I kid you not)
- If your child throws a tantrum in the shops, you cannot ignore them?
- If your child doesn't like their teacher, change their class?
- If your teenager is embarrassed to be seen with you in public, stay away from them and pretend you are not related?
- If your child want something from the shops, get it for them?
- If your child misbehaves, you are not permitted to take away their PS2 or their XBox or their Nintendo DS or any other games they love?

If that happens, I quit.

I will change careers.

Until next time,

Cheers!!!
Penned under: ,

16 penned views:

  1. hehehe LOL..changing career and all...

    but yes this is quiet worrying ! But you know in India there are no laws so here the children are anyway spoilt...so either ways I think the generation is getting spoiled !
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  2. lol..but u have to really wonder what the people at the fed gov are doing to come up with shit like this..they should speak to russell.. they should have also said dont hit your three year old if the kids says fuck you..free
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  3. oh i can't agree more with u pb. parenting here has to be the most stressful thing ever! its contradictory with the whole australian attitude, no? And rilly? such rules exist? Are they like mandatory??!!! I'd like to know :D. if it is then lil mishmash will go into a depression with an hour of TV (and i am perfectly o with that!) and certainly look skinnier with no force feeding :D. God, aren;t there any rules for these kids??? Its like all these rules are made to make a parent's life hellish! :D
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  4. How are they going to keep a tab on that one?
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  5. Amen!! Wouldn't it be nice if the Nanny State decided to let us raise our own kids, without undermining our authority to do so and spent all the money involved in bullshit things like that on more special ed support? Or more counsellors for troubled kids? Dream on...
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  6. lol...start thinking about a second career already...planning way ahead helps ;-)...just kidding.

    on a serious note, it is a shame where these things are headed...i mean, where do they come up with these ideas as to no forcing kids to eat? parents know better, i would think..but whateveer!
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  7. backing up soin: Russel Peters is the solution :D .. nice blog btw!
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  9. That's a little ridiculous. Please, I'd quit too, lol.
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  10. @ Nu: Yeah...most kids are spoilt nowadays...sigh.

    @ Soin: Well, if the 3 yr old is telling a parent 'fuck you' makes you wonder what's going on at home.

    @ KG: Yeah it's a nightmare isn't it? I can see how some rules are definitely justified but then they take it too far and it makes everything sound ridiculous...it's like they lose credibility. No hitting your kids is fine with me because there are several parents out there that do go overboard. But no smacking is a bit too much because some kids may actually benefit from a little smack. And no force feeding would probably result in kids only wanting to eat Maccas. And then they say we have an obesity problem! Oh and these aren't mandatory (yet)...just 'guidelines'. Imagine if they were mandatory...DoCs workers are burnt out as it is....

    @ The Survivor: Well, they aren't mandatory (yet) but I still thought they were stupid 'guidelines'

    @ Quixotic: Tell me about it! And you are so right when you say it's undermining parent's authority. Kids have more power than parents and teachers these days imo (I sound old!!!) but that's also why we have such bad episodes of bullying and stuff...because they aren't afraid of consequences. If only money was put into helping those families in need and special ed...sigh.

    @ Titaxy: Yeah parents definitely know better when kids are under 16! Especially when it comes to food I would think. If not, most kids wouldn't be eating any veggies

    @ Vinay: Welcome to my blog and thanks for the comment! Do explain how Russell Peters is the solution? :)

    @ Smita: Yes...it's true. Sigh. They are not mandatory though...just 'guidelines' for parents

    @ Archana: Lol...so you see my point! :D
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  11. I dont like your suggestions.!
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  12. @ Meghana: Welcome to my blog! I'm not surprised you don't like my suggestions. I was being sarcastic. Hence the final point that if any of my 'suggestions' were actually implemented, I would change careers. I doubt I could continue working with children and adolescents if things got at ridiculous as that...
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  13. This is so ridiculous and completely unrealistic. All parents have an issue with the TV being used as a babysitter, but telling us toddlers can't watch TV at all is just insane. There are some benefits to TV so long as it isn't overdone.

    As for the food one, don't even get me started! If we implement this rule (and how do they plan to enforce this btw?) then kids will be living on puddings and sweets and will never eat quality food. How ridiculous!
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  14. @ Sid: Tell me about it! You would think that they'd focus their energy on providing services specifically to those families in need...where children are neglected or abused...rather than this stupid guideline. And I don't know how they plan to implement these guidelines...I'm just hoping they don't ask us to be mandatory reporters for this!
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  15. omg now they are going to guide how one is supposed to sneeze breathe? WTH
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  16. @ Ani: Who knows...next thing you know they may in fact be doing that?!
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Thanks for your views...I do appreciate them!

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