Celebrity Culture Intruding on Children's Understanding and Exploration of Nature

[This article is from www.kidsloveearth.co.uk and research carried out by Robinsons be Natural products. Please contact them for more info if necessary]

"School children know less about nature and more about David Beckham

Research released today has found that British primary school children can list almost four times as many celebrities as they can wildflowers, birds and wild animals. The research, which sought to uncover how much children know about nature, also found that one in four children are not aware that a tadpole develops into a frog in later life.

When asked to identify celebrities, children aged 6-11 years could list on average 8 celebs with pop sensation, Miley Cyrus (aka Hannah Montana) as the number one pick, followed closely by David Beckham, Wayne Rooney and Zach Efron from High School Musical. Other popular picks for girls included Britney Spears and Kylie Minogue, whilst boys reeled off famous faces such as Steven Gerrard, Simon Cowell and Michael Jackson.

Conversely, when asked to turn their focus to the British countryside, children could only name on average 2 wild flowers, 3 wild animals and 4 garden birds. Children were however able to spin off the names of 10 cartoon characters in addition to the 8 celebrities.

Interestingly, almost half of children surveyed (47%) said playing outside was their favourite playtime activity. Yet despite this passion for the outdoors, the research results showed that children know very little about the world around them.

The survey, undertaken by Robinsons be Natural involved more than 1,000 families across the UK. Other key findings from the research are listed below.

- 1/4 of children in the Midlands believe the dolphin is a common wild animal found in the UK

- 14% of children could not list any wild animals in the UK countryside. The figures were highest in Wales with 25% of Welsh children unable to list any wild animals

- 27% of children in Northern Ireland were not aware a caterpillar develops into a butterfly in later life

- Children in London listed the tomato as a common British wild flower, whilst children in the North West named the penguin as a garden bird residing in the UK

Top 5 Celebrities Named:
1. Miley Cyrus (Hannah Montana)
2. David Beckham
3. Wayne Rooney
4. Zach Efron
5. Britney Spears

Top 5 Cartoon Characters Named:
1. Spongebob Squarepants
2. Simpsons Characters (Bart/Homer)
3. Tom and Jerry
4. Scooby Doo
5. Mickey Mouse

Top 5 Wild Flowers Named:
1. Daisy
2. Buttercup
3. Dandilion
4. Bluebell
5. Poppy

Top 5 Wild Animals Named:
1. Fox
2. Rabbit
3. Squirrel
4. Deer
5. Badger

Top 5 Garden Birds Named:
1. Robin
2. Blackbird
3. Pigeon
4. Blue Tit
5. Chaffinch

http://www.kidsloveearth.co.uk/downloads/School%20children%20know%20less%20about%20nature%20and%20more%20about%20David%20Beckham.doc "

Readers must bare in mind that this research has been carried out by a corporation (Robinsons be Natural) in pursuit of profit, but nevertheless its research results have been constantly replicated by many other studies and research in this field.

We are witnessing the first generations of children and young adults that understand and experience more from the media than the natural world, and whom are influenced more by celebrity culture than ever before. All at a time when the need for action to counteract climate change is long overdue, and many studies on the topic show what we already know: that the media perpetuates sexist, racist and homophobic influences within society, and therefore within the individual: especially the growing child.

Is this a harmless societal 'progression' (or 'regression') that we must accept? Or are we shamefully failing the next generation of young adults by not addressing these issues?

UK Welfare Reform: Urgent Action Needed to Support Single Mothers

Dear friends,

URGENT -- please take action by the end of Wednesday

Welfare Reform Bill-- protection for children under five overturned by MPs

MPs supporting the government tonight brutally overturned the amendment won in the Lords, which protected single parents of children under five from losing benefit for not doing work-related activity.

Single parent families could have their benefit cut by 40%.

This is an outrageous attack on single mothers who are looking after
children full-time.

236 MPs voted against the government, and some made clear that mothers caring work is a vital contribution to society.

It should be recognised not penalised.

Please write to the Lords who backed the amendment to urge them to keep this important protection for children, and let them know the strength of feeling in the community on this issue. Personal statements from mothers, fathers and carers are most convincing.

Lord Freud, the Conservative Lord who led on this amendment, will raise it again when the Bill goes back to the Lords on Thursday at 11.30am. We have another chance of defeating the government on their uncaring policy.

Fax number for the Lords: 020 7219 5979 (mark for the attention of the Peer you are writing to.)

(As time is short, please send your letters direct, don't rely on us to forward them, but do send us a copy at womenstrike8m@server101.com Fax 020 7209 4761)

Please write to:

Conservatives
Chris Scott
scottcg@parliament.uk Conservative Office, House of Lords has undertaken to pass on emails received by end of Wednesday.

Lord Freud
freudd@parliament.uk
Fax: 020 7219 5979 mark attention Lord Freud
Tel: 020 7219 4907

Lord Taylor of Holbeach CBE
Tel: 020 7219 4051
taylorjl@parliament.uk

Baroness Morris of Bolton OBE
Tel: 020 7219 5353
whitbycollins@parliament.uk

Liberal Democrats
Baroness Celia Thomas
Tel: 020 7219 3586
thomascm@parliament.uk

Lord Kirkwood of Kirkhope
Fax: 020 7219 5979 mark Attention Lord Kirkwood (no email)

Crossbench

Lord Northbourne
Tel: 020 7219 3884
Fax: 020 7219 5933
northbournec@parliament.uk

Welfare Reform Bill: Update and Single Mothers

Mothers, carers, people with disabilities, victims of domestic violence … win
important changes in the Lords.
But some may be overturned on Tuesday when the Bill returns to the Commons. Join us
to press MPs to keep them.

Many important concessions have been won. Testimonies from those affected, among a
wealth of letters and evidence from organisations, including ours, were taken up by
Peers and journalists, forcing the government to shift. The government has publicly
agreed to some of the changes, but some remain under threat.

The Bill is coming back to the Commons on Tuesday 10 November.

ACTION YOU CAN TAKE: Phone and/or email your MP to urge them to keep the concessions
and to condemn the worst measures in the Bill.

House of Commons tel: 020 7219 3000 Find your MP

Most under threat:

· Single parents of children under five are entitled to care for our children
full-time without losing benefit for not doing “work-related activity”. We need to
press MPs not to overturn this. No mother should be forced to go out to work if she
feels her pre-school age children need her.


Changes likely to be approved:

· Single mothers/parents of children aged three to six. Single parents on
Income Support will be able to keep £50 earnings, up from £20. No “work-related
activity” will be compulsory outside school hours, childcare or term-time. Mothers
won’t have their benefit cut for missing “job seekers” appointments due to family
responsibilities. Parents of children under 12 claiming Job Seekers Allowance will
not have to work full-time and can reject jobs that do not fit within school hours.


· Parents. Jobcentre advisers and “back to work” staff must have regard for
the welfare of the child in what they tell parents to do.

· Carers. Single parents will be exempt from job seeking if their disabled
child under 16 receives any rate of Disability Living Allowance for care.
Previously, the government said the parent must work if a child is on the low rate
for care.

· Women fleeing domestic violence. A three-month exemption from job seeking.
Though not enough for recovery and settling distressed children, it is an
improvement over the previous discretionary decision by Jobcentre staff.

· It is illegal for anyone to be pressured into medical treatment. Jobcentre
or “back to work” staff will not be able to tell disabled people claiming Employment
and Support Allowance (including people with mental health problems) that they have
to take their prescription or undergo surgery. The government previously claimed
that some people are “wilfully keeping themselves unfit for work”. People with drug
and alcohol problems can be required to attend assessments and “motivation”
sessions, but cannot lose benefit for refusing rehabilitation or treatment.

Despite these changes, the Bill takes away many of our rights:

It abolishes Income Support. This is the main benefit which acknowledges unwaged
caring work by single mothers and other carers.

It wipes out entitlement based on need and brings in US-style workfare. Couples
with young children must both seek work. Almost all claimants of working age must
look for a job or engage in a “work-related activity”. Those who cannot find a job
will have to “work for their benefits”, i.e. for £1.60 an hour. Forcing more people
to chase scarce jobs, while allowing employers to bypass the minimum wage, lowers
everyone’s wages. Councils looking to cut costs are already preparing for workfare
staff. Those of us who do not or cannot comply are threatened with destitution.
Asylum seekers were the first to be made destitute, and this inhuman standard is
being extended to others.

It introduces compulsory joint birth registration even where the father is violent.
If the mother has no official proof of his violence (a common situation) she will be
forced to give his name. Mothers of newborns should not have to worry about going
to court to stop the father abusing his parental rights to persecute her and the
child.

It expands charging for disability services which local authorities are allowed to
deduct at source from disabled people’s personal budgets. While many disability
groups welcome “the right to control” in the Welfare Reform Bill, the new percentage
charging system discriminates against those with severe disabilities, who pay more
from bigger budgets.

We are determined to defend our entitlement to benefits and free high-quality
services. Many people have signed up to a letter condemning the abolition of Income
Support. Add your name. LINK

Contact us for more info:

Single Mothers’ Self-Defence centre@crossroadswomen.net
WinVisible (women with visible and invisible disabilities) winvisible@allwomencount.net
Global Women’s Strike womenstrike8m@server101.com
Legal Action for Women law@allwomencount.net

Tel: 020 7482 2496 www.allwomencount.net www.globalwomenstrike.net

Petition for reuniting African mums and kids seeking asylum in UK

Dear Friends,

We are writing to introduce you to The Mothers’ Campaign of the All African Women’s
Group. We are mothers who have had to flee to the UK leaving our children behind in
our home country. We left our children when we saw they would be safer without us.
(We enclose our leaflet below.)

We are launching a petition with our demands for family reunion and invite you to sign it at:

http://www.PetitionOnline.com/MumsKids/petition.html

We are gathering signatures between now and Mothers’ Day in March next year. We
would very much appreciate your support and hope you can initially help us by
circulating the petition amongst your friends, family and network.

Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you require any further information.

Yours

Jeto Flaviah

The Mothers’ Campaign of the All African Women’s Group
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mothers & children seeking asylum

We are mothers who have had to flee to the UK leaving our children behind in our
home country. Our lives were at risk – most of us have been through rape and other
torture; some of us have seen family members killed. We left our children when we
saw they would be safer without us. We didn’t know where we were going, or how, or
if we would survive.

When we claim asylum we are not recognised as mothers who are suffering separation
from their children. Even when we win the right to stay, we still face the pain of
being prevented from reuniting our family.

"We are consumed by guilt and worry. Every meal we eat we think of whether our
children have food. But our love for them is also what keeps us going. Sometimes you
feel so hopeless, you want to end your life but knowing your children need you is
what makes you keep fighting.”

We sometimes lose contact with children back home. Or we hear of them suffering
without our protection – living on the streets after caring relatives have died;
taken by the military; or even turning to pick-pocketing and prostitution to survive
and feed the younger ones.

We have hardly enough to feed ourselves but we do all we can to send money home for
them. And if we don’t know where they are, we raise money to search for them. We do
low-paid, illegal work or even sleep with men for money for them.

But if our kids turn 18 while we wait – often for years – for an asylum claim to be
settled, we lose the right for them to join us.

This government talks so much about the importance of families and claims that
“Every child matters”, yet our children are denied their mothers’ love and
protection. None of the media stories about missing children which highlight the
parents’ distress, even mention what we and our children are going through.

We demand...

• To be recognised as mothers, with dependent children
  
• That when the government grants amnesty to families with children here – their
  right to stay without having to establish a fear of persecution – that we, together
  with our children back home, must also have a right to family amnesty. Though we
  are divided, we are a family.

When we win our right to stay we demand...

• Unconditional right to family reunion to everyone who wins the right to stay in the
  UK (whether under the refugee convention, humanitarian protection, human rights act,
  legacy process or other grounds).
  
• The right of children to join their mother even if they turned 18 before her asylum
  claim was settled.
  

We urge British embassies/high commissions in our home countries to show their
commitment to families by helping to find our missing children and reunite them with
their mothers.

"Mummy, you are the only person I have to save me from everything I’m going
through. Thomas screams every night. . . . I don’t even know what to say about
Michael but he’s a baby boy who needs his mummy right now.” (Letter from a teenage girl whose mother was forced to leave her four children behind).

For more information, including how you can help, contact:

All African Women’s Group, aawg02@googlemail.com
Crossroads Women’s Centre, 230a Kentish Town Rd
London NW5 2AB, Tel: 020 7482 2496

All African Women's Group<>

Eco-Feminist Storytelling Workshop for Kids at Climate Camp 2009

On Tuesday 1st September 2009, members of the CRAP! Collective (Child Rearing Against Patriarchy) led an ‘Eco-Feminist Storytelling’ workshop, in the autonomous Kidspace at this year’s Climate Camp in London. The kids ranged in ages from 2-11 years.

The workshop began with introductions. There was a name go-around, and each person talked a little about their favourite book, and what they liked best about it. The adults from the Collective then introduced some of the stories they would be reading to the kids that day: ‘Rainforest’ by Helen Cowcher, ‘Dinosaurs- and all that rubbish’ by Michael Foreman, ‘Spacegirl Pukes’ by Katy Watson and Vanda Carter, and ‘Fantastic Daisy Artichoke’ by Quentin Blake. These books were chosen due to their ‘eco’ or ‘feminist’ credentials, and also because they suited the ages of the kids in the workshop that day.

After each book was read, there was a brief chat about what we liked best and what we liked worst about the book. What messages was it trying to give the reader? What was special about the characters in the book? Were there elements of the stories that seemed unusual to find in a kids storybook? Then there was chat about the lead characters in the stories- in the two ‘eco’ books there were no female characters, whereas the two other stories had either strong female characters or a gender-neutral balance. There was talk about why we may think many ‘eco’ stories have male lead characters, and the difficultly that the adults leading the workshop had, in finding books for young children that were both ‘eco’ and also ‘feminist’ with a strong female lead character, or even with just a non-sexist outlook.

A circle was formed by the workshop participants, ready to create their very own collective story! Now they were to play the ‘Circle Stories’ game: kids create a story together- one line at a time. Going round in a circle, each kid takes turns adding a line building up the story to an often crazy end! There was an improvised ‘Story-stick’ which was passed around from kid to kid so everybody knew whose turn it was to say their line. An adult was present to write down the finished story in the kids’ own words.

Thanks to the kids and their excellent imaginations, we all had great fun. And here is their story…

Once Upon a Tuesday, Climate Camp Saved the Trees

Written collectively by the kids at Climate Camp Kidspace 2009

Once upon a Tuesday, I was going to the park. There was a crash! I wondered, ‘What was that noise?’. There was a car crash. All the birds flew out of their trees. It was Karen. Then a bird landed on Karen’s shoulder, and Karen said ‘Hello!’ to an Anarchist. A Butterfly came past, and a Snail. All the animals and Karen had a picnic. At the end, there was a ginormous Tortoise, which suddenly started to fly. And then it landed, and it ‘pogged in a poggy dog’! In animal language that means, ‘A car is on fire!’.
The Tortoise went to Climate Camp. A Caterpillar walked past with boots on, and fired the boots off! All of a sudden it started to rain, and then the Tortoise sheltered everybody under its shell. The more it rained the more the Tortoise grew and grew, and his belly grew bigger and bigger. Then the Tortoise did the biggest wee in the world, and put the car out that was on fire! And then a big wave of wee fell over everyone.
There was a big Mirror with boots on going past. The Firemen came and cut some trees down. Everyone was sad. And then the Snail had an idea… ‘I know!’ she said, ‘Why don’t we dig underground to live?’. A little Mole came out, and the Mole said to a passing Punk, ‘Do you know where Climate Camp is?’. Then they soon got to Climate Camp and they stayed in a giant Snail tent! And where they were, a Superhero was putting all the trees back, by planting some new ones.
More fire came, and the trees fell back down. Then the Firemen came back. The Firemen were really sorry for taking the trees down before. The Firemen said, ‘I’m very sorry, I’ll help you plant some new ones’. The Punk popped up again and said ‘It’s true, Climate Camp isn’t just for Christmas, it’s for life!’ And Gordon the Big Engine said ‘Where are all the Firewomen?’. Someone said they had all gone to space. The Mirror zoomed past and said ‘You’ve got no seeds to plant the trees, but with my Magic Mirror Spray- I can put the trees back, just like they were yesterday! Pazzeeee!’ The seeds that had been sprayed filled the Earth, and the Earth was re-tree’ed once again. And they all lived happily ever after.

The End!

London Radical Childcare Collective

Hello! From the Radical Childcare Collective.

We are an autonomous collective of anti-capitalist people (men, women, children, parents, educators and also including those who have no personal childcare responsibilities). We are dedicated activists in various fields (social and environmental justice groups, anarchist and feminist groups, anti-poverty and anti-deportation groups, radical education and home education groups, to name but a few). We meet regularly in a child-friendly space in Hackney, East London.

The group came together out of concern about the lack of enthusiasm in our activist scenes around providing space, resources, support and time for kids and their parents/carers to be involved in their scenes. The Radical Childcare Collective acknowledges the political importance of children, carers and childcare both in mainstream society, and in our own alternative movements.

We want to spread this movement of ours, yet we don’t make our activism accessible to parents, carers and children. Parents are often left out because of lack of childcare, meetings being held in inaccessible locations at inaccessible times and also because they can be devalued by members of our 'activist' communities. Many of the women in this country are mothers, yet groups don’t prioritise or always provide childcare at meetings. Maybe a meeting isn’t the most suitable place for children, but if parents are going to be there then we need to accept that children will be too, and sort out ways to deal with it, and there are many positive ways that this can be done.

We also believe that other parents shouldn’t be the only people interested in childcare- it should be an integral part of our community, as important as all the actions, as important as providing disabled access to events, and as important as banning other discriminatory behaviour (sexism, racism) from our groups.

Children should both be seen and heard! They have played a crucial role in social movements around the world from anti-apartheid to squatting and traveller movements, from environmental protests to Zapatista social justice resistances. Children can be vibrant, creative, inspiring and clever. They should be involved in decision-making and respected as part of this community, with valuable insights and energy. Children are a vital part of our movement, yet are often not included in our organising.

We need to consider the many benefits children gain from being involved with activism, and –in return- what we gain from them being involved. Why are we social, environmental, and political activists if not for future generations? Involve children in your activism! They are the future, you are their inspiration, and together we must fight for a better world.

Mainstream society and schooling does not provide our children with the education that they need or deserve. For kids to actually be involved in environmental groups/events/actions, to be organising alongside positive adult role-models, and to be understanding alternative ways of working and socialising together- it privileges and reaches them on a much deeper level. For example, much more than hearing mainstream adults or school geography classes that just pay lip service to ‘eco-living’.

The Radical Childcare Collective hopes to be one step towards the more child, parent and carer-friendly world that we all deserve to live in. We are interested in not only providing childcare for meetings and events, but more importantly we are dedicated to the process of actively including children in our social, political and environmental movements, and bringing awareness of these issues to other positive activist groups in these fields.

Please contact londonradicalkidscollective@aktivix.org for more information and for details of the next meeting.

Home Educators: we're part of your community!

The government wants to give local council officers the right to enter our home and question children alone, just because we home educate.

There is no evidence that home educated children are more at risk than children educated at school.

The new proposals are disproportionate and unnecessary. They infringe our, and our children's, rights.

Please sign the petition at

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/EHEreview/

If you have friends, neighbours, colleagues or customers who educate their children outside the school system, please send a card to your MP to reassure them that

home educated children are not hidden- they are part of your community

[by home educators in Brighton. Please see our other blogposts with the label 'home education' for more information]