Toys for Children -- Stuffed STDs

It is mid-September and getting close to Christmas. We have been planning to get away and go up the New South Wales north coast for a week or so just after Christmas. This obviously gets one to thinking about buying gifts in preparation for the big day where the fat fella in a red suit comes down the chimney and leaves a bag full of goodies for the kid.

Anyways, the best place to get ideas for gifts I reckon is the internet. So, online I went.

The above is what I found. It was one of those moments where one shakes their head, smiles, and then thinks, "I wonder who bought one or all of those?"

You can see the water cooler conversation now, can't you?

John: Hey Bill, what did you get your kid for Christmas?

Bill: I gave him chlamydia and the pox! What about yourself? What did you give yours?

John: Funnily enough, I gave my kid the clap and herpes.

There is something that does not sit right with the idea of making stuffed toys to represent sexually transmitted diseases or infections (STD / STI) and then giving them to children.

Imagine your kid takes one of these stuffed toys to school:

Teacher: Johnny, what did you get for your birthday?

Little Johnny: Miss, my parents gave me the clap!

Teacher: Oh, OK, how do you like it?

T-Shirts You Cannot Wear To School...

There is a list of ten shirts that you cannot wear to schools in the USA. You can find the list over at Buzzfeed (here).

The t-shirts have sparked a deal of controversy and the kids wearing them have been asked to remove them or sent home. Many civil libertarians are up-in-arms that this breaches the first amendment rights to the freedom of speech. These are all certainly interesting arguments. However, when it comes down to it, generally the wearer of the t-shirts are children, and not all children would understand the controversy that their (or their parents) choice of clothing may bring.

I will leave it up to you as to decide whether you would send your kids to school in any of these pieces of everyday wear.

Knickers...

Something that came into the Inbox about knickers...

Hope this puts a smile on your dial and brightens up your day (or evening).

Little Susie goes home from school one day and tells her mum that the boys keep asking her to do cartwheels because she is so good at them.

Her mum says, "you should just say no because they only want to look at your knickers!"

In reply, Susie says, "I know they do that's why I hide them in my bag!"

Drugs in School

How times change. I really cannot remember any instances when I was 16-years-old and in school that my peers were selling ecstasy or other drugs. This tended to happen off of school premises as I recall. And, it was small time and infrequent and was not my scene.

However, it seems that times have indeed changed. A 16-year-old turning up to school late has had his bag searched by the school principal. Apparently, the student gave his permission for the search to take place. Well, bugger me if the principal did not find 94 tablets, thought to be ecstasy, with a street value of some AUD 3000.

Unfortunately for the kid, his parents, and possibly his supplier, he was denied bail. It would seem that the police prosecutor has managed to convince the Children's Court that the child is part of a sophisticated operation and that the alleged crime is of sufficient seriousness that bail should be denied.

The youngster has no criminal record. I guess if you're gonna go for it, then you should go hard, the whole nine yards, so to speak.

I wonder is this the start of the vicious cycle of crime and routine trips to prison? Or is this the pre-cursor to a second chance?

Video Games and Child Behaviour

Anyone looking for an in-depth analysis of the relationship between video games and child behaviour will be sorely disappointed in this post. Nevertheless, there is a connection.

In a news story out of Wicomico Church, Virginia in the good ol' US of A, a six-year-old who was so keen to get to school that when he missed the school bus he figured he would grab the keys to the family car and drive himself to school. This decision did not pan out as he was hoping as he did not make it to school crashing after some six miles and still at least a mile and a half short of school.

When pressed by the local police about where he learned to drive the child admitted that all of his driving experience can from playing "Grand Theft Auto" and "Monster Truck Jam" video games. The fact that he managed to drive six miles, negotiate a few turns, and pass a couple of cars before crashing seems to suggest that these video games are pretty real in terms of the reality portrayed.

Unfortunately, for the kid he is now in protective custody as both his parents have been charged with child endangerment. Child endangerment would suggest that there is more to this story than just a mother falling asleep and leaving the car keys on the table. If not, then the moral of this story is that as a parent you must supervise your children 24 hours a day because if they do anything that endangers themselves then you are responsible as a parent.

The logic of this, taken to its conclusion, is that the parents of children are responsible for the children's actions. Simply, if your child steals then you as the parent must be punished. Similarly, if your kid decides to "borrow" your car keys and take the car for a spin then you are guilty of child endangerment.