Blog posts for ‘Growing up’ 
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The Martini Generation and mobile learning
Monday 16 April 2012
Categories: Education, Growing up, Technology & the Internet
Increasingly we are used to being “connected” every minute of the day. Smart phones are changing the way in which we live. We use them not only to communicate by voice, text and email, but also to keep our calendars, to tell the time, to access the Internet, to navigate, and so on. Mobile Applications (Apps) allow us to do almost anything. For those of us who are educators this is very exciting – smart phones are unbelievably cool – but for those whom we teach, this is normal – they...
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Forever friends...
Thursday 12 April 2012
Categories: Growing up, Parenting
I hear that at some schools girls are being discouraged from having a “best friend”. I think this is sad. It is true that there are perils in having one special friend. If she moves away, as mine did when I was 7, it is heart-breaking. I could not imagine ever having such a satisfying, complete friendship again. But of course I did, eventually. And all too often that friend who swears she will be your very best friend forever may move on leaving you bereft, as happened to one of my...
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Embracing failure
Monday 6 February 2012
Categories: Education, Growing up, Self-esteem, Teenagers
I remember once standing up to speak at an A level Awards presentation at the school where I was the head, and beginning, ‘Today I want to talk to you about failure…’ I still recall the uncomfortable ripple that went through the assembled audience of Year 13 leavers, their parents, the staff and guests. It was a word we just didn’t use in school. We talked about success all the time, and, if we ever needed to talk about its opposite, we referred to ‘areas for development’ or...
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There's more to relationships than body parts...
Monday 28 November 2011
Categories: Education, Family Relationships, Growing up, Sexual Relationships
‘There’s more to relationships than body parts’ attested a recent article in The Education Guardian. Absolutely. We have to recognise that Sex and Relationships Education requires far more than giving information about the biological elements of human reproduction. Our sons and daughters need support as they address the emotional aspects of a developing interest in the opposite sex, and unless schools and parents work together to provide this support, they will look to each other,...
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Anti-bullying week 2011
Wednesday 16 November 2011
Categories: Growing up, Personal Safety, Self-esteem
So many children’s lives are blighted by bullying. It is important that families and schools face up and admit to this issue and take firm action. MyDaughter.co.uk supports anti-bullying week and we hope that in the future there will be less stigma so that the victims of bullying can come forward and receive the help, support and understanding they deserve.
Worried about bullying?
- If your instincts tell you that your child is being bullied, trust them.
- Tread softly. Don’t rush...
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Toxic childhood?
Wednesday 19 October 2011
Categories: Growing up, Media Influence, Parenting, Role Models
Surely parents should pay attention when over 200 teachers, academics, authors and charity leaders issue dire warnings? A group of them is urging the government to take action (The Telegraph Sept 11) because they believe that children’s wellbeing and mental health is being undermined by the pressures of modern life and by the culture of “too much too soon”.
I would argue differently –
What really is childhood? – dear little innocent girls and boys playing innocent games until...
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How will she survive?
Tuesday 27 September 2011
Categories: Growing up, Higher Education, Letting go, Teenagers
Apparently research shows that many university Freshers lack basic life skills, having never before cooked, cleaned or shopped for food. The Independent 26/9/11 We are clearly meant to find this shocking but if we think back to our younger selves could we have said any different? Like nearly 70% of those questioned for Sainsbury’s research I certainly hadn’t paid a utility bill when I was 18. It’s true that, unlike one in five of them, I had cleaned a bath but I too hadn’t done my...
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The problem isn't little girls, it's adult ones
Monday 6 June 2011
Categories: Growing up, Media Influence, Parenting, Role Models
Libby Purves’ response (The Times, 6.06.11) to the Mothers’ Union report on curbing the sexualisation of children hits the nail on the head.
This IS an issue for girls and their mothers, and for most, the measures in this government-commissioned report ARE like bolting the stable door after the horse is bolted. It’s almost impossible for girls – and little girls at that – not to be negatively preoccupied by self-image. They are surrounded by loud hailers proclaiming they must...
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The trouble with girls today...
Thursday 12 May 2011
Categories: Growing up, Media Influence, Role Models, Teenagers
The trouble with girls today is that they are obsessed with appearance and possessions. Their role models are pop stars, WAGs, stars of reality shows like X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent and other D list celebrities. And girls just want fame and fortune…
Or do they? A survey by the National Literacy Trust found that around a third of girls aged 8 to 13 simply want to be happy when they grow up. Only a tiny minority, just 3.5%, said they wanted to be famous – how very refreshing and...
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Abstinence lessons for girls?
Monday 9 May 2011
Categories: Education, Growing up, Sexual Relationships, Teenagers
Nadine Dorries, the Conservative MP for Mid Bedfordshire, has suggested that schoolgirls between the ages of 13 and 16 should be given lessons in ‘how to say no’ as part of the sex and relationships curriculum.
I know I am not alone in asking why this message should be targeted at girls, rather than at both boys and girls. To me it suggests the disturbing and dangerous idea that girls indulge in or withhold sex as a way of managing and manipulating their relationships with boys. It...
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Categories
- Careers (13)
- Drugs and Alcohol (3)
- Education (62)
- Extra curricular (11)
- Family Relationships (21)
- Growing up (20)
- Health (13)
- Higher Education (6)
- Homework (6)
- Letting go (5)
- Literacy (1)
- Media Influence (33)
- Parenting (33)
- Personal Safety (10)
- Role Models (25)
- Self-esteem (9)
- Sexual Relationships (5)
- Technology & the Internet (7)
- Teenagers (17)