Some Kids Under 6 Watch 6 Hours Of TV A Day/Selling sterilisation to addicts

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Some Kids Under 6 Watch

6 Hours Of TV A Day

By Nicole Martin

The Telegraph - UK

9-3-3

 

One in three children under the age of six watches television for between

two and six hours a day, according to an NOP survey published today.

 

In a separate report, researchers found that a third of children under three

have a television set in their bedroom.

 

The two studies of children's viewing habits will reopen the debate about

the potentially harmful effects that television has on the mental and

emotional development of young people.

 

A quarter of the children in the NOP poll watched television for between one

and two hours a day while a third watched for less than an hour.

 

Only seven per cent of youngsters watched no television at all, according to

the survey, conducted for the Early Learning Centre and based on interviews

with 750 parents across Britain. Those children read, played video games or

used their toys. The research comes only days after David Bell, the Chief

Inspector of Schools, criticised parents for sitting their children in front

of the television rather than talking to or playing with them.

 

He said the growing tendency of parents to treat the television as a

babysitter was damaging children's verbal and behavioural skills.

 

" We should encourage parents to talk to their children and give them a whole

range of stimulating things to do and not just assume that the television,

or whatever, will do all that for them, " he said.

 

Two thirds of the parents questioned said they would like to spend more

" quality time " with their children, with the figure rising to 81 per cent

for working mothers and fathers.

 

Seven in 10 also admitted that their children watched more television than

they did at their age. But in a sign that parents were changing their

behaviour, all said they encouraged their children to play, either alone or

with friends.

 

Dr Brian Young, a child psychologist at Exeter University, said it was clear

that parents still relied on the television to entertain their children.

 

However, he said that children could benefit emotionally and mentally if

they watched programmes with their parents. " It can be positive,

constructive and enjoyable as long as parents explain the meaning of what

they are watching, " he added.

 

The findings follow a report by television industry regulators that

indicated that most programmes watched by children are intended for adults.

 

Among four- to 15-year-olds, one in five is still watching after the 9pm

watershed, according to the study by the Broadcasting Standards Commission

and Independent Television Commission.

 

© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2003.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;$sessionid$XLNQ1GDPZ4NODQ

FIQMGCFFOAVCBQUIV0?xml=/news/2003/09/03/ntv03.xml & sS

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Selling sterilisation to addicts

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3189763.stm

By Clare Murphy

BBC News Online

 

 

To its critics, Project Prevention or Crack - an American organisation which

pays drug addicts and alcoholics to be sterilised - is a terrifying

throwback to the neutering of " defectives " during the 20th Century.

But the woman who runs this not-for-profit programme believes she is

offering a service to everyone: the drug addict, the taxpayer, the child who

has not yet been born, and if she has her way - will never be born.

 

The project targets poor women - and you tell me what sort of choice it is

when it's made by someone living in poverty and desperate for money

 

Wyndi Anderson

NAPW

As the programme reaches its fifth anniversary, Barbara Harris also

believes she has cause to celebrate.

 

Some 1,050 addicts - mainly women - have undergone sterilisation as part of

her programme over the past five years.

 

It may not seem a considerable number, but, Ms Harris stresses, the number

of clients has more than doubled over the past 12 months compared with the

year before.

 

" Basically, despite the initial controversy over the programme, people are

starting to accept that it's a good idea. Probation officers, social workers

and those who work on drug treatment programmes are increasingly referring

their clients to us, " she says.

 

Increasing presence

 

There is no way of independently verifying the figures given by Project

Prevention, nor will the group divulge the names of institutes whose

counsellors allegedly refer their clients to the programme - arguing that

those people could fall foul of the authorities if their identities were

revealed.

 

 

Volunteers are asked to distribute flyers in their areas

Some prisons - such as the Bernalillo County Detention Center in

Albuquerque - have apparently allowed the group to host information sessions

for their female inmates, but have stressed that this is not tantamount to a

referral.

 

But what is undisputed is that the programme has expanded significantly over

the past five years - growing from a small establishment in California to a

nationwide programme with a presence in most major cities.

 

As it has expanded, the tone of the group has also shifted. Ms Harris, who

was quoted in one of her first interviews as saying " We don't allow dogs to

breed. We spay them. We neuter them. We try to keep them from having

unwanted puppies, and yet these women are literally having litters of

children, " has since toned down her language.

 

Her project was initially referred to simply as Crack (Children Requiring A

Caring Community). Now it frequently uses the warmer term Project

Prevention.

 

But the essence of her project remains the same. It offers drug addicts and

alcoholics a sum of $200 for opting for a long-term form of birth control,

such as sterilisation or a contraceptive implant.

 

Those interested are asked to submit documents proving that they have been

arrested on narcotic offences, or provide a doctor's letter as evidence that

they use drugs.

 

After she or he has been accepted on the programme, fresh documents are then

required to show that the procedure has indeed taken place. The money is

then despatched.

 

" Our principal aim is to stop children winding up in foster care or with

long-term health problems, whose care puts an enormous burden on the

taxpayer, " says Ms Harris.

 

" If they spend the $200 on drugs, they spend it on drugs. It's none of our

business what they do with the money we give them. "

 

Historical analogies

 

Organisations like the National Advocates for Pregnant Women do not deny

that there can be problems with children born of addicted parents but stress

that many drug addicts become loving mothers and that their children in many

cases do not suffer life-long health problems.

 

The programme diverts efforts away from helping addicts to become clean,

they argue.

 

" Barbara Harris couldn't care less about the addicts themselves and what

might be best for them. And while it may be dressed up in the language of

choice, for them to argue that these people come to them entirely of their

own free will is totally disingenuous, " says Wyndi Anderson, co-ordinator

for NAPW.

 

" The project targets poor women - and you tell me what sort of choice it is

when its made by someone living in poverty and desperate for money. The

whole project is eugenist, it recalls what went on in the 1930s in America,

or even in Nazi Germany. "

 

Laws authorising coerced sterilisations were passed in more than half of US

states in the 1930s after lobbying from the American eugenics movement,

which sought to further the existence of what it deemed to be the

" genetically superior " and prevent reproduction among those it saw as

inferior: " the licentious " and " the indolent " .

 

America's legislation served as a model for the Nazis' programme of

eugenics, which led to the extermination of Jews and the murder of many

gypsies, the mentally ill, and homosexuals.

 

Ms Harris rejects any comparison.

 

" It's just nonsense. Nobody is forcing these people to do anything - it's

their own decision. What infuriates me is that if my critics don't think

these people are capable of making their mind up on an issue like this, why

on earth do they think they are capable of bringing up a child? "

 

Time and reason

 

Ms Harris also has some influential, and wealthy, people on her side.

 

Dr Laura Schlessinger, one of the nation's most popular radio talk-show

hosts, has made hefty donations and has frequently plugged the project.

 

Richard Scaife, heir to the Mellon fortune in Pittsburgh, is also reported

to have donated, along with Jim Woodhill, a right-wing venture capitalist

from Texas.

 

African-American writers favourable to the programme have also helped to

rebuff criticism that the programme targets black people.

 

Despite these luminaries, the group continues to attract negative coverage

in the media and it raises hackles whenever it opens a new branch.

 

And while it is acknowledged that the group is making progress, the

sterilisation of 1,050 drug addicts in five years remains a relatively

inconsiderable number.

 

This, however, appears to provide little solace to the critics.

 

" It doesn't seem a lot, but the fact is that the group hasn't disappeared or

faded away, and people are now starting to get used to it, " says Ms Anderson

of NAPW.

 

" As the saying goes: Time makes more converts than reason. "

 

 

Project Prevention's statistics

1050 paid clients

1026 women

24 men

516 Caucasian

351 African-American

105 Hispanic

78 other ethnicity

[Guest guest]

I was a very mean

mother!  I allowed

only 1 hour of TV per day when my kids were growing up.  They could pick which hour they wanted, or

divide it up into two ½ hours.  It’s

amazing the creative ways they can find to use their time if they

are allowed to.  It worked in their

favor, because today they are both highly paid professionals –

and they are just starting their families, so it will be interesting to see if

they adopt the same rules for their houses.

Carol

 

 

 

 

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Misty

[misty3]

Some Kids Under 6 Watch

6

Hours Of TV A Day