What must be done?

What must be done?
Sunday September 20, 2009

Hi Alice,

I am living in Ireland and to my horror and quickly following anger I found this advertisement in the newspaper.
It is a course description for “practical parenting”, for would-be parents.

IN THE CHALLENGING YEARS, 10-21

the real question is not what is your child going to do but what sort of man/woman
are they going to be?

Course Content

How to deal with the destructive nature of idleness.
Overseeing the company they keep and how they spend their time.
A reason based approach to the avoidance of addictive substances.
The importance of honouring and respecting parents.
Developing character, responsibility and discipline.
What guidelines to offer regarding relationships and sexual morality.
How to establish and apply house rules.
Developing talents and interests.
Practical ways to assist in the selection of a career.
The relationship between parent and child after sixteen.

I think this is going to be the deciding factor in my training to be a psychologist.
To try and bring your work to people in the hope that no one will enroll for a course
like this one in the future.

No where is the child mentioned as a person with ideas and feelings of their own.
What they might like to choose as a career?
Children do not become addicted to substances because their reasoning if flawed in some way.
It is thought that talents and interests need to be developed by the parents, what about
what the child wants?
What about the importance of respecting children?
starting with not hitting them.
Also, I would imagine that the relationship between parent and child would not suddendly
change beyond all recognition on the childs sixteenth birthday for some strange reason.

What a load of rubbish.

There are so many things wrong with this course that it just frustrates me but it also
makes me want to do something about it.
I will write to the college also.

Thank you for being an inspiration, G

you can print this on your webpage if you like.

AM: Yes, you can write and use our material. It takes much time to make people open their eyes but there is no obtion for us than to try.