MetaFilter posts tagged with children and violence

A World Fit for Children

homunculus — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 13:00:55 -0800

Progress for Children: A World Fit for Children Statistical Review "reports on how well the world is doing in meeting its commitments for the world’s children. This UNICEF special edition analyses progress towards the Millennium Development Goals in four priority areas for children: promoting healthy lives, providing a quality education, combating HIV and AIDS, and protecting against abuse, exploitation and violence." Also from UNICEF: The tsunami, 3 years on Little respite for Iraq’s children in 2007

Lionel Shriver wrote an interesting book.

scratch — Wed, 08 Jun 2005 08:04:58 -0800

Woman wins Orange Prize for novel "many people will hate" Lionel Shriver's We Need to Talk About Kevin is one of the few novels I've read in which the protagonist admits that she dislikes her child and is ambivalent (to put it mildly) about motherhood in general. In this case, she has good reason--the boy has a few problems, which culminate in a school gym massacre (preceded by something really grisly). (I'm not giving anything away by saying this, it's not a mystery novel.) Many people do indeed hate it; I personally thought it was fascinating. See also The Independent, The Guardian, ID Theory, Salon, and many more.

Just fill the catapult with one or more cupids, pull the trigger, and aim at the person of your dreams!

margarita — Fri, 04 Feb 2005 20:47:34 -0800

Just fill the catapult with one or more cupids, pull the trigger, and aim at the person of your dreams! This "love gun" alarms me, but maybe I overreact as a parent about my kid's exposure to violence. Is this just a harmless novelty, or a disturbing example of how desensitized we are to guns? At least it's for kids over 3.

Back-to-school safety

mr_crash_davis — Mon, 01 Sep 2003 12:15:41 -0800

Safety Patrol, take note: It's back-to-school time all over the world, including the West Bank.

Babies against war

dg — Wed, 26 Mar 2003 17:30:41 -0800

In anti-war protests in Australia yesterday, children as young as 12 were shown on TV coverage participating not only in protests, but in the violence that followed when the protesters attacked police. There has, in the past, been condemnation of those who bring their children along to protests, but this is the first time I have seen large numbers of children protesting on their own behalf - most of whom would have been truant from school and, judging by the way many hid from cameras, without the permission of their parents. Should we take them seriously, or are they too young to really understand what it is they are protesting against? [more inside]

BarneyFifesBullet — Mon, 30 Sep 2002 22:33:28 -0800

"nearly 20" kids beat man to brain death with bats, shovels and boards Brutal stuff. One of the kids in custody is only 10 years old. The victim had "confronted them for throwing an egg at him and punched one teen in the mouth". They went and organized a mob, and returned, according to the Milwaukee Police. What do you do with a 10 year old murderer, anyway?

mschmidt — Sat, 06 Apr 2002 00:55:11 -0800

He needed it to cut an onion. Under normal circumstances I would have shook my head and said, "Oh, those silly americans". This story, however, is about my 12-year old brother who's facing a 1 year expulsion after bringing a (small) kitchen knife to school for a science assignment. Zero tolerance - or zero interest in what's best for the kid?

bytecode — Sat, 01 Sep 2001 10:13:40 -0800

Prozac seems to be societies new legal LSD. In the 60's acid could cure anything. If you were feeling down, tune in turn on and drop out and everything will be good. Timothy Leary was a huge part of this whole "acid culture", but as Hunter S. Thompson so eloquently put it "He crashed around America selling consciousness expansion, without ever giving a thought to the grim meat-hook realities that were lying in wait for all those people that took him seriously." In the end the acid culture failed, but we have yet to learn the lesson that everything can not be cured with a magic pill or some powder, you can't just add some water and cure societies problems like making instant soup. Could this belief in drugs that Tim Leary promoted during the 60's have lead to the overmedication of children today? Those old acid heads that have since become working stiffs that have kids still believe in the back of their minds in "better living through chemicals" and allow doctors to over prescribe their kids chemicals such as Prozac and Ritalin. Do you think that there could be a connection between this overmedication and school violence?

CrayDrygu — Wed, 25 Apr 2001 07:30:24 -0800

"School bullying called widespread." This one's a real gem. Not only are the results of the study overly predictable, but the article is full of other great realizations, such as how "bullying is [...] unacceptable behavior," and how there is a "possible connection between bullying and violence."

Hackworth — Thu, 01 Feb 2001 09:51:23 -0800

"Chicken, the deadly white meat." An 8-year-old boy was suspended from school for 3 days after pointing a breaded chicken finger at a teacher and saying, ``Pow, pow, pow.''
... What else do I have to say?

tiaka — Mon, 15 Jan 2001 19:48:58 -0800

tv = agressive behavior in children.
Danny: What was the Donner Party? Jack: They were a party of settlers in covered-wagon times. They got snowbound one winter in the mountains. They had to resort to cannibalism in order to stay alive.
Danny: You mean they ate each other up?
Jack: They had to, in order to survive.
Wendy: Jack...
Danny: Don't worry, Mom. I know all about cannibalism. I saw it on TV.
Jack: See, it's OK. He saw it on the television.

skallas — Fri, 13 Oct 2000 15:17:39 -0800

Indianapolis minors can't play violent videogames anymore.

brookish — Fri, 30 Jun 2000 15:06:05 -0800

Violent Media is Good For Kids Interesting theory that viewing violent media, reading comics and playing bloody video games is actually cathartic for kids. Not sure it's valid, but it's interesting.