User: BJake

just as there are more left handed animals than right handed animals so there are more homosexual animals than there are homosexual humans - in the animal world it's about 50/50. It's only humans who try to make it into something dirty. Interestingly only humans and ducks commit rape - what does that say about ducks? What is wrong with someone finding love with another? Does it matter if one is a man and one is a horse? OK inter species is nearer the dirty but what if, instead of a horse, a sheep - better or worse? At least gays stick to their own kind.

Where do you draw a line? Why should you draw a line at all? Why not draw a circle and have a good cup of tea (Lapsang Suchon or Ceylon and rose)

Did Boyzone actually write anything? I thought their songs were all covers. Or was that just Westlife?

When you have children if you do not give them your unconditional love and teach them the lessons they need to live happily in the world then you are the problem not tyour children. My daughters know I love them, I have always treated them as I would like to be treated. I have disciplined them with groundings but never for more than a couple of hours on very few occasions. They trusted me and I trusted them. They have worked hard and studied hard and overcome problems in an adult and selfless way. I am proud of all they have achieved as I hope they are proud of me. You should strive to be the kind of person your children can be proud of.

"Strive to be like them but never strive to make them like you for they live in the land of tomorrow which you can never visit, even in your dreams" - Kahlil Gibran's book, 'The Prophet'

We are who our experiences make us. I can't share my experiencs with you - I can tell you about them but you cannot understand them unless you experience them from my viewpoint.

Children should not live in fear of extreme punishment. they have a right to grow in a loving, safe environment. No priest or teacher has the right to punish children to excess. Two friends of mine attempted suicide because of the regular beatings they were receiving. Both were removed from the school by their parents. They should have gone to the police but in those days teachers could do anything.

In Victorian times teachers actually believed you could beat intelligence or learning into children.

Learning is about nurturing and opening young minds so that they learn things because they want to because they derive enjoyment from the experience. If you work with young people and learn together, from each other, respecting each other and acknowledging their input you will grow along with them.

Interesting viewpoint. I know young people need to know where their barriers are. They always push to see how far they can go. I have worked with young people who have been seen as unteachable and out of control. It usually turns out that they have not been given boundaries. We dealt with rights - the rights of young people but we also dealt with responsibilitis - the responsibility of everyone to care for the safety and security of themselves and others. Too many people nowadays know their rights and demand respect. I have often been accused of dissing someone (disrespecting). I always ask what they have done to earn respect. That usually baffles them so I explain that we have to earn respect and to do that we have to give respect first. When I pulled up a group of young people who were acting in a way that was upsetting and frightening somew elderly people they said I should respect them. I pointed out that they were not respecting the elderly group and they had not earned anyones respect. They made fun of the elderly group so I involved the elderly group in the discussion. It turned out that one of the men had won four medals in WWII. He talked about what he had done to earn those medals. One woman had represented Scotland in a Commonwealth games. They had all brought up children and one of them had taught all the young people's parents. I suggested she go and have a word with their parents and the young people started backtracking and apologising. I said "these people have earned your respect now earn theirs"

The point is that schools do not encourage young people to reach for the skies but too often encourage them to believe they are worthless. One group I worked with - a group of 14 year olds who had "disengaged" from school were such young people. One of the group quickly returned to school when he realised just what it was he needed from school to be able to achieve his goal. We worked with Careers officers and encouraged them to dream of what they wanted to be doing in the future. We enrolled all of the group on a new programme which recognises achievementover a series of skills. They built a Santa's grotto and dressed as elves when it was opened up to children - they actually went to their choice of adult to ask him to be Santa (a huge thing for them to do as they had only negative responses from adults) I congratulated one lad who had worked particularly hard on the project and he was actually shocked. It turned out I had been the first adult to ever say anything positive about him.

It's not always young people's faults that they misbehave but they do have to see what the consequences of their actions are.