Author: Andre Coleman

Bereavement – This can be a very traumatic time for a child or young person, bereavement can affect concentration, memory and learning.

New sibling – A challenging transition for young children, it may affect the child’s behavior as they may act out, wanting to gain attention.

Parental Separation – This can affect children and young people in many different ways and must be dealt with in accordingly in a sensitive manner.

Moving Home – Moving house can be a big upheaval, it can affect the child or young person because they are being taken out of their safe and familiar environment.

Illness or Injury – Whether it be the child/young person directly affected or a family member, either way the child may need help dealing with the change of circumstances.

Divorce – This is a difficult period for a child or young person, they may be affected in many different ways and must have endless emotional support.

Taken into the care system – This can be a difficult transition where the school and social services must work together to make the process run as smoothly as possible for a young child.

Abuse & Neglect – Abuse and neglect can affect all areas of development. Children and young people are affected by abuse in different ways, outcomes of abuse vary.

Moving countries – Moving countries can have a negative affect upon children and young people, socially, academically and emotionally.

These types of transitions are generally unplanned, or occur with little or no warning and in turn can be damaging if not responded and dealt with in the correct way. These unplanned transitions will also however affect children and young people in different ways.

Some children and young people may also experience transitions such as:

The introduction of Step Siblings

Changing schools

Change of carer

Pet dying

Parental change of partner

It is a known fact that all children and young people are faced with transitions, although some may be affected positively and some negatively. When children are faced with planned or unplanned transitions they may experience feelings such as anger, guilt, rejection and sadness. Other ways that children and young people may show the affects made by transition i.e. attention seeking behavior, friendship/peer problems, and becoming withdrawn and quiet or displaying uncharacteristic habits.

Children and young people moving from primary to secondary high school may find it hard to adjust to being taught more formally. They are suddenly expected to study a wider variety of subjects, to take on more responsibility and sometimes make a new circle of friendships. Involving changes like learning more and having less free time. For most children and young people going through a transition such as moving school can have an impact on their learning and achievements, sometimes affecting them academically. Suddenly a child is removed from their “comfort zone” and taken away from a familiar environment, from their friends and teachers etc. The child is completely thrown of track and put into a new environment which can be extremely difficult for a child or young person to adjust too. It can have affects on a child’s learning, self esteem and sometimes resulting in them no longer wanting to go to school, although some children and young people do adapt well to this type of transition. For example when I was attending secondary school a young girl moved from her original school due to her parents moving country, when she began attending my secondary school she settled in and adapted very well, proving to be quite popular with her peers. It appeared to have a positive affect on the young girl but then suddenly her peers turned against her, this then resulted in the young girl becoming a victim of torment and bullying. She became unhappy, quiet, withdrawn and reserved. Her parents decided it was in their child’s best interests to change schools once again, where she began to regain her self esteem and confidence which was extremely affected by the bullying, changing schools and moving countries. Fortunately the next change of school had a positive affect on the young girl’s education and learning which dramatically improved. She began making friends, displayed more confidence and began to enjoy attending school again. Moving school can have a negative and/or positive impact on a child or young person’s behavior and development. In the beginning a change of school proved to have a negative affect upon the young girl but fortunately the second period of moving school resulted in having a positive affect upon her, improving her behavior and development. Therefore I feel it is important that a child’s parents consider their child’s happiness before making this choice, due to the positive and negative affects it can have on a child and young person. Although changing schools unfortunately cannot always be prevented due to unforeseen circumstances in life.

Parental Change Of Partner – A parent introducing their new partner to their child can also be a challenging and difficult time. It can result in affecting a child or young person’s behavior and development. For example when I was a teenager my mother introduced me to her new long term partner which at the time felt like a stranger was trying to replace my father, I also felt that her new partner was taking away my mothers attention. Suddenly a new authoritative figure was brought into the family. From my personal experience it had a bad affect on my behavior and development as I began to misbehave, smoke, drink and act out because I was extremely angry inside and wanted to regain my mothers attention which I no longer felt I had. I became an angry, depressed, withdrawn and isolated teenager, clearly displaying signs that I was negatively affected, no longer being my usual bubbly, happy self. My education also began suffering because of this transition as I could no longer concentrate in school. However this does not always have a negative impact on children and young people but it does need to be handled cautiously and sensitively. It can be a very challenging time for the child and young person but also for the parents, family members and anybody else involved.

There are three prime areas of Learning and development, these prime areas begin to develop from a base of secure, loving relationships and children learn and develop well in enabling environments, in which their experiences respond to their individual needs. Children have a different way of learning and develop their learning at different rates. The three prime areas of learning and development are as follows:

Communication and language development- this involves giving children opportunities to experience a rich language environment, and to develop their confidence in speaking and listening.
Physical development-involves encouraging children to be active in their play and learning. Children should be given the opportunity to move around and develop their motor skills.
Personal, social and emotional development- this area of development helps children to develop an awareness of themselves, to form positive relationships, develop respect for others. It supports children in managing their feelings, and behaviour and to develop a sense of their self-esteem.
The specific areas of learning develop out of the prime areas of development and identify specific skills to be developed. The four specific areas of learning and development are as follows:
Literacy development-children must be given access to a wide range of reading materials to develop an interest in books and understanding of written print. This encourages children to begin to link sounds and letters and they begin to read and write.
Mathematics- is all about providing opportunities for children to develop and improve their skills in counting, understanding and using numbers through early rhymes and songs, calculating, simple addition and subtraction, and developing an understanding of shapes, spaces, through exploring and categorising objects.
Understanding the world-involve guiding children to make sense of their different communities; children will also be given the opportunity to learn about the world around them.
Expressions, arts and design- involves enabling children to explore and investigate a wide range of and media and materials and discover how they work, as well as providing opportunities and encouragement for sharing their thoughts, ideas and feelings through a variety of activities in art, music, role play and design and technology. ((Open Study College Early Years Level 3 pgs. 75,76)
Planning to meet children’s development needs is important when planning activities, because all children develop at their own rate in their own time. According to (The Department for Education March 2012) “Practitioners must consider the individual needs, interests, and stage of development of each child in their care, and must use this information to plan a challenging and enjoyable experience for each child in all of the areas of learning and development.”
Each child is view as a unique person with their individual needs: a unique child will have their own personality, characteristics and interest. When a child is born they can sense love from their parent, and carers, this will make them feel safe and secure in their environment. when planning for an activity in your setting, practitioners should consider the age group that the activity is for an if it is suitable for all the children involved, you also need to take in consideration other needs such as disability or special needs, for example, if the setting that has a child with hearing problems, then the practitioner should consider planning visual activities for that child to be involved and take part. Practitioners should look at what skills and knowledge the children are demonstrating and build upon this. This will ensure that the individual needs of the child are being met. Practitioners must respond to each child’s emerging needs and interests, guiding their development through warm, and giving them a positive interaction.
Within the early years settings practitioners working with the youngest children especially need to focus on the three prime areas of development, which are the basis for successful learning in the other four specific areas. For children whose home language is not English, practitioners need to take reasonable steps to provide opportunities for children to develop and use their home language in play and learning; they must work in partnership with their parents in order to support their language development at home too. Each area of learning and development must be achieved through planned, purposeful play and through a mix of adult-led and child-initiated activity. Play is vital for children’s development, building their confidence as they learn to explore, to think about problems, and relate to others.
It is important that practitioners plan effectively because every child is unique and has different abilities, learning skills, attention and education backgrounds, each child needs individual support and planning. It is recommended that the practitioners follow a cycle of planning, observation and assessment of each of their key children. Through observing, practitioners can gather a lot of information about a child’s knowledge, skills and abilities, through assessment a practitioner will look at findings from their observations and use them to plan further activities for that child. In my previous nursery (x) where I worked we had to plan daily activities, I had to support children’s learning experiences through play, we had to plan activities to suit the individual needs of the children, the indoor and outdoor environment was used as part of play, observation, discussions with parents on the interests of the child, we also carried out a one to one talk with children for their own ideas to help us with further planning.
Practitioners need to form a base of secure, loving relationship and a positive environment with young babies and children in order to support the learning and development of the seven areas of learning.
Communication and language development is divided into three aspects:
Listening and attention- Practitioners can build positive relationships thorough being physically close, maintaining eye contact, sing songs and rhymes during every day routines, practitioners can support children’s learning by listening to children and taking account of what they say in your responses to them, share rhymes, books and stories for many cultures. Play games which involve listening for a signal such as ‘Simon say’ and use ‘ready steady go’.
Understanding- Practitioners should look at the baby and say their name and wait for their response. Prompt children’s thinking and discussion through involvement in their play. Show children a photograph of an activity such as hand washing helps to reinforce understanding.
Speaking -Practitioners should model language to babies, speaking clearly to them and using appropriate body language and gestures. When babies try to say a word, repeat it back so they can hear the name of the object clearly. When children begin to talk, practitioners should be partners in conversation, modelling the correct use of language.
Personal, Social and Emotional Development is also divided into three aspects:
Making relationships- Practitioners can support children in making relationships by encouraging children to play with a variety of friends from all backgrounds so that everybody is being involved.
Self-confidence and self-awareness- Practitioners should organise the environment for children to access different resources and materials to promote their independent choice making.
Managing feelings and behaviour- Practitioners need to find out from the parents as much as they can about the individual children before they start the setting so that the routines they follow are familiar and comforting. Practitioners need to set clear rules and boundaries for children to follow in managing appropriate behaviour.
Physical development is divided into two aspects:
Moving and handling- practitioners should help babies to become aware of their own babies through touch and movement. Treat mealtimes as an opportunity to help children to use fingers, spoon and cup to feed themselves. Practitioners should plan activities where children can practise moving in different ways and at different speeds, balancing, target throwing, rolling, kicking and catching
Health and self-care- practitioners should Plan to take account of the individual cultural and feeding needs of young babies in your group. Respond to how child communicates need for food, drinks, toileting and when uncomfortable. Encourage children to be active and energetic by organising lively games, since physical activity is important in maintaining good health and in guarding
Against children becoming overweight or obese in later life.
Literacy- Practitioners should provide a variety of books for all children according to their age and stage of development, it is also important to sit down with the child and spend time in reading stories aloud to them in circle time. Practitioners should support early writing skills. Also support children in recognising and writing their own name.
Mathematics- practitioners can sing number rhymes s they dress or change babies e.g. ‘one, two buckle my show’. Sing counting songs and rhymes which help to develop understanding of number, such as ‘two little dickey birds’ Children count reliably with numbers from one to 20, place them in order and say which number is one more or one less than a given number. Practitioners can provide shape sorters and jigsaws puzzles for older babies and toddlers to enable them to fit the correct shapes into the hole.
Understanding the world- is divided into three aspects:
People and communities: Practitioners need to celebrate and value cultural, religious and community events and experiences. Encourage children to talk about their own home and community life, and to find out about other children’s experiences.
The world: Practitioners need to help children to find out about the environment by talking to people, examining photographs and simple maps and visiting local places.
Technology: babies and young children use technology from a young age with action toys. They will learn how to operate the toys. A children grow older they should be given more complex toys such as wind ups or mechanical toys. Children are curious about the technology around them such as computers, televisions, cd players; practitioners should provide them with the opportunity to use this technology.
Expressive Arts and Design-is divided into two aspects:
Exploring and using media and materials -practitioners should sing songs and nursery rhymes with babies and can provide different musical instruments. Older children enjoy dancing to music; practitioners should encourage movement to the music.
Being imaginative- Practitioners should provide a variety of role play materials and support children’s imaginative ideas. Help children communicate through their bodies by encouraging expressive movement linked to their imaginative ideas.
This source of information has been taken from (Open Study College-Early Year Level 3 Pg’s 81-90). (Development Matters in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS).
There are 3 characteristics of effective learning which help us to focus on and understand how children learn. The characteristics of effective learning are as follows:
Playing and exploring – this characteristics observes how children engage with their learning.
aˆ? Finding out and exploring- through play children will find out about and explore the objects around them. Play is a key role for children to develop the understanding of different objects in the world around them, also the understanding of different cultures, and religions of others can be developed through play.
aˆ? Using what they know in their play- play is a key role to promoting children’s learning and development. Free play is important for children as it gives children the opportunity to explore their own feelings, views and ideas.
aˆ? Being willing to have a go- children will develop their self- confidence and will enjoy challenge and risk.
Active learning – this characteristic observes how children are motivated to learn.
aˆ? Being involved and concentrating- will develop children’s ability to hold concentration in activities for longer periods and will help children maintain focus and attention on their activities.
aˆ? Keeping trying-through trying out new experiences and activities, children will experience failure and disappointment.
aˆ? Enjoying and achieving what they set out to do- succeeding and achieving new skills will build children’s self-confidence and pride in their own abilities.
Creating and thinking critically – this characteristics observes how children are thinking.
aˆ? Having their own ideas- within play children will act out as role models and explore their own ideas.
aˆ? making links- once a child has discovered their own ideas and methods, they will be expected to try them out again.
aˆ? Choosing ways to do things and finding new ways- children will develop strategy in their own learning. Children will think about what went well and how to change the activity when they approach it again. Practitioners can support children’s thinking by asking them open ended questions.
According to (Tunja on September 9, 2012)
“Playing and Exploring is when Children can represent their experiences through play and rehearse what they will be able to do without adult help later on. Play brings together ideas, feelings, relationships and the physical life of a child. Children who are encouraged to express themselves freely through play are likely to be more able to adapt and learn new skills in a school environment.”
“Active Learning often occurs naturally during exploratory play. For example, where children are concentrating on something and keep trying until they succeed in their attempts. This might be something as simple as threading beads on a string or more complex such as assembling a construction toy with bolts and a spanner.
“Creativity and Critical Thinking is linked to active learning and can occur where children are able and have time to develop their own ideas. This helps them be able to make links between their different ideas. For example, this is often observed in schemas. Such as when children experiment with a theme like rotation. They might rotate themselves, whisk their milk with a straw and spin wheels linking how things move in circles or spirals.”
According to (Abbot and Moylett, 1999, Early Education Transformed )Educationalist ‘Susan Isaacs’ states “Children in their play can escape into real experiences or out of it and through doing this they learn about reflecting on life, getting a sense of control over their lives, developing self-esteem and feeling abhorred.”
“Piaget was a French speaking Swiss theorist who posited that children learn through actively constructing knowledge through hands-on experience. He suggested that the adult’s role in helping the child learn was to provide appropriate materials for the child to interact and construct” “Jean piaget believed “Children were often viewed simply as small versions of adults and little attention was paid to the many advances in intellectual abilities, language development, and physical growth.”
Conclusion
Supporting children’s learning and development is implemented through the seven areas of learning they have been split in to the prime areas and specific areas. The characteristics of learning identify how children learn; the ways in which a child engages with other people and their environments is through playing and exploring, active learning and creating and thinking carefully. It is important that practitioners plan effectively because every child is unique and has different abilities, learning skills, attention and education backgrounds, each child needs individual support and planning.

On the basis of your readings and reflection upon your own practices with young children or from observations of early childhood educators in action, to what extent are young children actively participating in their day-to-day activities in early years settings?

Children Participation has been one of the most debated and examined issues since the UN Convention on the Right of Children was adopted in 1989. Young children, like to be consulted on things that affect them, such as activities implemented in their daily routine (Smith & Thomas, 2010).Creating opportunities for them to discuss this issue can be fun for them and this also helps them make decisions and develop independence. So that children can participate in their day to day activities in the Early Years Settings, the school environment has to respect and give value to their views even tough they are young (Clark & Moss 2001).

Participation of young children in the early setting is the rapid involvement of these young people in decision-making process. A school which values children views, will enhance creative ideas. Adults understand children needs better if they listen to children as participation involves a lot of listening (The Integration of Refugee Children, 2006). Children can express what they want to learn and do in the setting regardless of their language level of development.

A particular teacher has a kindergarten class of twenty, four year old children. In the morning she tells them to sit on the carpet and give them toys to play with, after the break she does a simple activity with them such as colouring in or let them play with play dough, then they go out for free play and after the second break they have to stay sitting in front of the computer for about 1 hour. This routine is repeated everyday. Children have to do what they are told and one can observe that some of them get really bored; moving on the chair, playing with each others hair, jumping around the class. Children are not really active participants in their daily activities.

The adult should listen to the children but the information gathered from listening should be given value and should be open to differences and change (Clark, Kjorholt & Moss, 2005). But unfortunately from my experience I can tell that some educators are not ready to adapt according to what children think about their settings, such as where they like to play, and what tools they like in the setting and that’s why children have to do what they are told. A particular teacher told me that she only has four years left working for her pension, so she is not going to change anything and that she is now tired of children. This confirms that some educators are still not open to difference, so how can they provide opportunities for children participation?

Also children are not freely given choice to what activities they would like to participate. They have to participate in what the educator herself plan. If a child does not like painting, the educator has to make her best so that child will participate during painting activities. When others see that the educator has achieved this goal, everyone will be pleased except for the child himself as it could be that he still doesn’t like painting and get bored do painting activities. Some of the things adults do is not to please children, but to please themselves and other adults around them.

Listening also involves observing children and watching them, then what is observed can be discussed with children themselves, parents and work mates. A child who has not developed speech yet can still show what activities he likes and this could be seen through observation. If for example a child who has no speech yet, show a lot of interest in musical instruments, the educator should expand on it and include musical activities (Clark & Moss, 2001). I saw some educators doing observation while children are playing freely but then they ignore what they had observe. They don’t take their observation a step further and don’t reflect on their observations. If an educator watches a role-play where children shows many of their likes and then doesn’t reflect on that observation she cannot take a step further. She cannot plan activities on what was observed so that children participation in everyday activities will increase.

If we need to listen to children so that they participate more in early childhood settings, we need to give them time, value their opinions, and be ready for change. The multi-method approach is good to be implemented, as different children use different means to express themselves such as verbally, drawing, painting, singing and photographs and this will help them participate more in their day-to-day activities.

What are the barriers to children’s participation?

Anderson (2008) mentions several barriers to children participation such as time, lack of confidence and lack of skills in talking with children. From my experience, I really think that time is a barrier to children participation. Young children needs time to express themselves. If the multi-method approach is applied, the routine implemented in class should be more flexible. I’m all the time rushing thing up to do everything in time especially when I was a student as I was afraid about having a tutor coming in my class, and see me doing something different than that wrote on the daily routine. In the kindergarten where I work, we had a student in a kindergarten class. She wrote down that the activity will take about 20 minutes. When she saw the children really engaged in what they are doing, she left them enjoying themselves and the activity took about 35 minutes. The tutor assessing her told her that if she plans a 20 minutes activity, the activity should stop after 20 minutes. I do not agree with this. If for example children are really engaged in painting, should the educator stop the children, take their brushes and start cleaning up?

When I was a student kindergarten assistant, I was told that the main activity I do everyday should not take up more than 1 hour to do it with the whole class. I do not agree with this as I used to look all the time at the watch not to exceed 1 hour time. Also children are all different. For example a simple photograph activity can take 30 minutes to a child, and 1 hour to another child (Clark & Moss, 2001). If we are going to implement the multi-method approach, the educator needs time as it does not relay on one method of communication but on vast methods. We as educators cannot be directed to do the main activity in 1 hour time, as we will be rushing children up not to exceed this 1 hour; therefore time will really be a big barrier.

Educators should build the class environment on the children likes and dislikes, and consult them for opinions on decorating the class. This promotes more children participation but unfortunately in Malta financial difficulties hinders us from doing this. I was a student in a particular school, where the class teacher discussed what they like to have in class. A particular child was saying that her mother told her that she will have sand at school. She continued to explain that she came to school willingly to play with sand like she used to play at the beach with her mum. As they didn’t have sand in class, the teacher told the headmaster to buy some sand. He didn’t want to, and after all the talking the teacher decided to buy the sand herself. This particular child was really engaged in playing with sand together with other children. But if the teacher didn’t buy the sand herself, the sand could have been never bought.

Also lack of confidence can be a barrier for some children to participate in a school environment. Some children may be afraid of saying something wrong or doing something foolish and holds himself back from participation (Anderson, 2008 P.145). The educator should try to break up this barrier and give them opportunities where they can build a positive self image such as hanging up their work while praising them and their final product.

Educators can also have lack of skill in talking with children. Educators should be aware that talking with different is not so different and complicated although the educator should require some skills. If these skills are not acquires, communication could be a barrier to participation. Educators should not feel superior on children while talking to them. They should sit at eye level while talking with children, adapt the tone of voice and respect what is said. Also educators have to be good listeners and give time to the children to give answers (Anderson 2008 P. 145)

How can we move from tokenism to real participation?

To move from tokenism, educators should first reflect on their own practice and be open to make changes. The educators should ask themselves what kind of educators are they and if they allow children to give a voice.

In a particular school a year one children where drawing what they like to have in schools. The teacher then placed these papers neatly in the children files. The educator was letting the children have a voice but then ignoring what they had to say. Unfortunately tokenism in Maltese schools is seen a lot. Schools have to work more on moving from tokenism and give children a voice in early childhood settings. Education should not be built on the educator power and control over children.

Some teachers still think that if they give children a voice, they will be given too much power. This lack of awareness about the importance of children given a voice, will not help to move from tokenism. The adult should be able to listen to “the hundred languages of children” because children can express themselves through different means (Edwards and other, 1998 as stated in Clark & Moss, 2001). Educators should move away from non-participation education and implement more degrees of participation (Hart, 1992).Activities such as conferencing, photographs and mapping like the mosaic approach suggest (multi-method approach) should be implemented, so that the educator can understand better children likes and views. Then the adult should reflect, and what is understood should not be ignored.

Children have to be informed about things they are going to be involved in such as daily activities and concerts. Concerts are said to be done to show children talents but how can these talents be shown, if it will only be planned and organised by the teacher? The majority of the teachers choice what play the children are going to do and the track they are going to dance and sing. To move away from tokenism children have to be consulted and share decisions with them. (Hart, 1992 – Ladder of participation).When consulting young children, adults should plan how to do so. Play with young children is a very good tool for effective communication. Laughing and enjoying this time together, the adults and children may become more trusting and comfortable and the adult can consult the children better (Anderson 2008 P. 173). The educator herself can be impressed with their ideas as “The young child is a builder of theories” (Rinaldi, 2003 as stated in Clark, Kjotholt, & Moss, 2005 P. 111).

Awareness on the Convention of Children’s Rights

I’ve conducted a questionnaire for parents. I gave this questionnaire to twelve parents, whom their children are in my class, of which eight where given back to me. I wished that I could give it to all the kindergarten children’s parents, to have a better understanding of their awareness, but I was not given the permission.

The questionnaire was divided into four sections. The first section was brief information about the parent answering the questionnaire such as gender and age and the second section was about the convention on the rights of the child in general. The third part was about articles twelve and thirteen whiles the fourth part was on articles twenty two and twenty three.

Section 1

The parents answering this questionnaire are all woman except for one. They are between twenty two to thirty six years old. The ages of their children are between four months to six years old. Three parents have one child, four have two children and one has three children.

Section 2 – The Convention on the Rights of the Child

I started off this section by asking the parents if they have ever heard of the children’s rights. All the parents are aware of some of the children’s rights. They had to state where did they hear about these rights (they could have mention more than one aspect). Thanks to educative programs shown on the television and educational meetings, most of the parents are aware of some children’s rights (refer to Figure 1).

Figure 1

The parents where asked to mention three rights. All of them mentioned the right for education and four of them mentioned the right to express themselves. Unfortunately only one parent mentioned that children have the right to play. Other rights mentioned where the right for a safe and clean environment and protection from harm and abuse. This gave me the impression that these parents are only aware of some rights which are ‘common’.

But do they think that all the parents are aware of these rights? According to four of them, not all the adults are aware of these rights even tough they are really important. To enhance adults knowledge about these rights parents suggested more educational meetings, educational programs on the television together with competitions to encourage parents participation. As seen in figure 1, many of these parents heard about these rights on television programs, therefore it is a good source to transfer more knowledge to adults about these rights. In fact a parent suggested that there should be “short TV spots showing one item at a time.”

Section 3

Article 12 states that children have the right to participate in decision-making that effects their life.

Article 13 states that children should have freedom for expression.

Children can express themselves even from a young age through crying, drawing, writing and much more. But their views and values should be respected by adults. All the parents that participated in the questionnaire think that this is very important but it is necessary for adults to create opportunities for children to do so. Every parent said that she/he lets her child express him/her self at home. When I asked them how, they wrote that they do so by discussing things with them and let them say their opinions, giving them free choice during free time, and hear what are their needs. I think that the awareness among these parents regarding children’s expression is quite good. A particular parent wrote that he/she “ask open ended questions and allow freedom of expression, thoughts and opinions are frequently sought.” This is important and as he/she said this makes the child being more “independent”.

Also all of them, except for one agreed that even at school there should be a council made up of children who can discuss their views regarding school. This is a good idea which I some schools already embrace it. Children should have a say about things affecting them and school is one of them. Having this council, children can discuss their opinions about school things they like, they would like to change and thy don’t like. But this should not stop their, the adults discussing with them should reflect on their opinions and take a step further by implementing some of their suggestions.

Parents had to tick which elements help children express their views. The elements where drawing, painting, story telling and discussions and they could have also mentioned other elements. The most one ticked was drawing (figure 2). One also mentioned imaginative play such as role play. Self-expression together with participation and involvement in different creative activities is a lot of fun for children which helps them learn. Parents should let children playing, exploring, being imaginative and creative. But these elements require adults willing to listen and take what they say seriously. But do adults have time to listen to their children? All the parents said no except for two. A particular parent said “they have but it doesn’t mean it is used”.

Figure 2

I was also a little bit impressed that all the parents said that the children should choose hobbies themselves and adults should not get in their way. Parents can help children decide but this does not mean that the adults have to decide for children. As a particular parent said “parents are helpers not owners.”

Section 4

Articles 22 and 23 – Refugee children and children with disabilities must have same rights as other children.

I choose this two articles to see if parents will encourage their children to play with children with disabilities or refugee children. I was in a particular school where once I heard a lot of complaining regarding these particular children and that these children should not be in the same class with other children. They did know that these children have same rights as any other children.

One particular parent said that refugee children should not be given education together with any other children but at the same time she said that if there is a refugee child in her son/daughter class she will encourage him/her to play with this child (figure 3).

Should children with disabilities be given education together with any other children?

Figure 3

Also children with disabilities should have same rights as any other children. Again one parent said that children with disabilities should not be educated together with any other children. But is the school environment giving children with disabilities a chance to learn with other children? Four parents think that the schools environment needs to be more adequate to include children with disabilities such as ramps and wide doors.

These 8 parents know about children’s rights but are not aware of all the rights. There should be educational meetings and leaflets about other rights. Parents should be more aware that other rights are also important such as children have the right to benefit from social security and the importance of the right to play. This information could also be transmitted trough media especially television programs as mentioned by the parents. There should also be activities for Children in schools about their rights also to get aware that children like them, have the same rights as themselves. Children should be aware that they have should respect other children rights such as refugees and children with disabilities.

In my opinion children should also be given a voice especially at school, as there are still some schools who don’t value children views and expression. They see them as our future citizens and not today’s citizens. Some adults think that young children should only be given knowledge as much as possible to have a better future society, but this is not so. Society will be better if we open up to children’s views and expression, value them, and include every child regardless of his race, gender etc.

In today’s ever-changing world, the rampant use of various technology and robots have become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Since the Industrial Revolution, robots have been used in manufacturing and automotive industries. With the rapid advancement in technology, the use of robots is increasing at an exponential rate.

From the graph above, it is evident that the world robot population has increased by almost 2 folds from 4.49million in 2006 to 8.37million in 2010. Domestic service, educational and leisure robots have contributed to the large increase in the use of robots in the 21st century. International Federation of Robotics (IFR) has forecasted a USD$17 billion in sales for the robot market worldwide by 2013. (http://www.ifr.org/) Hence, with the multi-faceted use of robots currently existing in our daily lives, one can expect robots specialising in childcare to be a part of reality in the near future.

Children have always been fascinated by robots. This is reflected in the increasing number of students taking part in robotics competitions. Moreover, when a bomb disposal robot was deployed in a village of Iraq, it caught the attention of the village children who surrounded it with great interest. Studies have also shown that the interaction between robots and children have yielded positive effects. As a result, robots have also been used as tools for educational purposes.

Advantages

With the current population trend moving from single-income to dual-income families, there is an increasing need for parents to provide the necessary childcare services for their children while they are both busy at work. This trend coupled with the evolving use of robots has sparked the research on childcare robots as a means to resolving the issue of juggling with raising a child concurrently with providing for the family. The potential of childcare robots is immense and has thus generated a lot of hype. Not only can it have a huge impact on society but it also has the potential to bring about radical changes in our everyday lives.

The concept of childcare robots has existed for decades. Proto-types of childcare robots are already available in the world today due to technological advancements which have minimised the cost of building and assembling a robot. Currently, there are 14 companies in Japan and Korea that have developed childcare robots.

The PaPeRo is an example of a childcare robot which has been developed by NEC, a leading Japanese electronics company who is a pioneer in the development of childcare robots.

It has been designed to live and interact with people through its autonomous and communication functions. One of its primary functions is to protect a child and prevent him from harm’s way. This can be done through mobile monitoring whereby the robot has cameras installed in its eyes which allow working parents to monitor their child’s movement at home through their laptops while they are at work. The parent will have full control of the robot and can navigate it around the house to ensure that his or her child is under constant supervision even if he or she is not physically there. The PaPeRo can also be programmed to look out for potential hazardous situations and consequently prevent the child at home from becoming a victim of it. Its autonomous function and obstacle avoidance capability thereby allow working parents to focus on their work due to its nature of independent mobility.

Disadvantages

Although childcare robots may solve the woes of modern working parents, one cannot help but ask how credible is the robot in ensuring the safety of the child at home? Who should be responsible in the case whereby the child still gets hurt under the care of the robot?

Childcare robots may have dire consequences on the child if they are not employed with caution. Previously, parents had to juggle between their family and work. As the concept of childcare robot surfaced, it liberated parents as the primary caregivers from choosing between their work commitments and looking after their child. This would result in less time spent together and the mutual bonding between parent and child will be lost in the process. The primary upbringing of a child thence no longer rests upon the shoulders of the parents but in the hands of a childcare robot instead.

From a societal perspective, a parent’s primary responsibility is to provide for their offspring and protect them from harms’ way. Parents should also impart the necessary knowledge and skills to survive in their later years during the developmental stages of their children in their adolescence. Parents may thus be shirking their primary responsibilities by passing on their role as caregivers to childcare robots. Instead of breastfeeding, which is natural and healthy for a child and also aids in psychological bonding, a robot is created to “breastfeed” with powdered milk. This is physically not healthy for a baby and would be a worrying trend to society. The role of caregivers is no longer clearly defined between humans and robots. One can only wonder what kind of psychological impact this may potentially have on a child when he is brought up by an autonomous robot made of steel instead of his own warm-blooded biological parents.

“As robots become increasingly popular and available, should we devise international ethics guidelines for their use?”

-Manfred Werner

The issue of formalised guidelines also arises with the extensive use of childcare robots in the future. To protect a child from negligence and abuse, there will be a need for governmental and international bodies to regulate and lay down ethical guidelines ensuring the fair and just use of childcare robots. By regulating its use, it could reiterate the fact that parents are still the primary caregivers of their child and childcare robots should only be a tool to assist them and not replace them. One should not hold the robots totally liable to the care of one’s child.

Children playing with robots –

Studies have shown that leaving a child with minimal human contact would retard the mental and intellectual development of the child. (http://www.education.umd.edu/EDHD/faculty/Fox/publications/94.pdf)

Although the child may develop an emotional attachment to the robot, his cognitive development may be impaired as he may be spending most of his childhood with a childcare robot. Furthermore, the bonding between a child and robot may mislead the child into thinking that such a relationship is real and identical to that with human beings. The impairing of his cognitive abilities coupled with the inability to distinguish between human and robotic relationships may thus lead the child to face problems interacting with other children. Consequently, the child may alienate himself from the rest of society in response to the ostracising he potentially faces from his peers.

Ultimately, robots are machines that face the usual technical problems of malfunctioning and may become obsolete over time. The child may “outgrow” the robot as his needs change at such a rapid rate. The childcare robot may only be programmed to handle toddlers and infants instead of school going children and hence it may become inadequate in looking after a child as they grow older. A child raised by machines may be detrimental to society and contribute to the degradation of healthy human relationships in the generations to come.

Nonetheless, it is undeniable that childcare robots are largely beneficial to enhancing childcare. Even without the existence of robots, there are still cases of child abuse and negligence by parents who have shirked their responsibility in caring for their child. In such cases, a robot may actually do an even better job in ensuring that the child is well taken care of. As research on childcare robots intensifies, the robot can be programmed to perform more sophisticated tasks, inter alia, expressing emotions and reacting differently to a wide vocabulary of words and range of feelings. However, in spite of the hype and benefits of childcare robots, I personally feel that it would be of best interest to society that they should only be used as a tool to assist in childcare and not replace the quintessential role of parents.

Conclusion

In conclusion, although the potential and benefits of childcare robots are limitless in the future, it is critical for us human beings to take a step back and ponder over the underlying ethical and legal issues that arise from their use. There should be a concerted effort by governments and a regulatory body to create a set of common and concrete guidelines to regulate the use of childcare robots. However, I feel that these are but mere infant steps to a realm of human co-existing with artificial intelligence.

“I care about our young people, and I wish them great success, because they are our Hope for the Futureaˆ¦” – Dave Barry

Youths are the key to our future. It is imperative then that children ought to be moulded in the footsteps of a human being than that of a cold piece of metal work.

Imagine every night when your children go to bed, sitting at the kitchen table crying, because of bills piling up. You have so many questions going through you head. How am I going to put food on the table? How will I be able to pay the bills this month? If I skip this bill what will happen? These are just a few questions that families who are faced with economic hardships ask themselves. Some families experience it for a brief period however a portion experience chronic poverty throughout their lifetime. In many cases the greatest challenge is the lack of financial resources, but whatever the case may be the stakes get higher when it come to the effects on children. How does poverty and poor healthcare affect children mentally, emotionally, and physically

Poverty can be defined in various ways. Primarily poverty is broken down into four categories: Absolute and relative poverty, and, generational and situational poverty (NPC). The number of people living below a certain income level unable to afford basic goods and services are defined as absolute poverty while, relative poverty are people placed in poverty because they do not meet the standards. These people have the necessities of living a healthy lifestyle; however, they still nonetheless classified as living in poverty because they live below the federal poverty level. On the other hand, poverty can be generational or situational. Generational poverty is defined as being in poverty for two or more generations. Situational poverty is due to different circumstances such as death in family, loss of job and is usually for a shorter period.

So what does it mean to experience poverty? According to the national center for children in poverty, 37 million children are living in poverty in the United States. Todayaˆ™s necessities has changed significantly from the past, having access to electricity, indoor plumbing, telephone service, a car, heating and air, and etc are essential to live in the world today. More than 10 million children are deprived of one or more of their rights, which include the right of nutrition, water, sanitation, access to basic health care, shelter, education, and protection (Aratani). 6 million children under six years old are homeless, never has received medical care and suffer from malnutrition. Children who live in poverty are 48 percent more likely so suffer from depression, domestic violence and substance abuse (Payne).

The causes of poverty are very broad. Generally, you cannot identify one problem as the cause of poverty for families. Some of the leading causes of poverty are imprisonment, divorce, natural disasters, substance abuse, overpopulation, lack of education, health, housing, geographic factors, economy, disease, and mental illness. There are many more causes of poverty and there will always be considering the constant changes in the world. Single parents are two to three times higher to be affected by poverty, about 40 percent of instanced parents contribute nothing to their children up keeping those who do are paying an average of 2,100 a year which everyone know that amount will not supply the child with everything they need(Payne). Economic stress can be a factor for breaking families up. The struggling economy has been the cause of the individuals who once had secure jobs, to now being among the poor.

2.6 million Jobs were lost alone this year. Job loss is at an all time high, losing more than 500,000 job a month (Caroline and Bernstwin). Death in the family along with job lose in these economic times are inevitable. The fact that many families cannot afford nor save enough money to be able to have life insurance. Which causes families to makes there life a waiting game, hoping that nothing happens since they canaˆ™t afford life insurance. So ultimately when a death in the family occurs, the expenses along with the instant change in income makes a household fall apart; following the depression and lack of will power, many are in a fog on how to recover and rise there families to the standards they were accustom to. Families dealing with poverty worry about so many things, they try to continue to pay all there bills on time, stretch their money tying to camouflage the issue so their children will not know how bad it is (Meltzer). Nevertheless, poverty brought on by death changes everything, situations that are already hard to deal with when you combine that with being put on a fast track to poverty makes things more unbearable.

The government programs such as food stamps, free or reduced lunch, medicad, government checks are the safety net for children living in poverty. These programs help children cope with the changes by giving them a way where they can still maintain some normal see to their lives. School breakfasts and lunches are the only meals some children get and over a million children according to Joan Flores do not receive the adequate breakfast needed because the school does not offer the program (children advocate). Eighty percent of children in the United States qualify for either free or reduced lunch (Joliffe and Filiak), In Richmond County, NC seventy-five percent of the children in the county qualify for this program (Barbee, Personal interview). Government supplementary checks are a way for the parents to get the items needed for the child however supplementary payments usually only allow for eight to fourteen benefits payments leaving the family to fend for themselves when that time period runs out . Medicad and food stamps give children the opportunity to have the two vital things they need for their existence. Although food stamps help at need children, food stamps are not easy for some families to obtain. Obstacles such as language barriers, thirteen-page application, interview process, etc prevent eligible families from receiving the benefits (Meltzer). Along with these obstacles, countless others stand in the way of children benefiting from the system. In certain counties or certain states, if you are homeless or cannot provide an address you are automatically be denied for government assistance; not to mention if the government finds out you are homeless your children you are running a risk of them taking your children. In addition, some families that are receiving these benefits should not, where as some families cheat the system taking viable resources that could be life or death for a child in need. Even though these programs are intended to help these children and families at need, tying to obtain this help is not only stressful for the family but also the child or children involved (Burnett, Personal Interview).

Children in poverty are affected mentally, emotionally, and physically not to mention these children are prone to a shorter life span. Poverty affects children before they are even born, parents already in poverty do not receive the adequate prenatal care need for the child to develop properly. In addition, the child is at risk of being born prematurely and often they will suffer from birth defects and developmental delays (Meltzer). The stressful situations these children encounter on a daily bases can led the child to have low self-esteem and difficulties forming relationships with other even before they enter school. Not only are the children education impacted by poverty their choice of schooling is also impacted. Many underprivileged children are forced to attend under funded schools; statistics show that these children will ultimately drop out of high school and give birth during the teenage years. These children will often fall behind when entering school. A child who attends a under funded school or fall behind could be the start of the child not learning to read and write proficiently, they are also likely to continue to struggle as a high school student. Having poor grades in high school, his/her future for attending college is seriously limited. Since most careers are often tied to higher education. The lack of a high school or even a college degree sets the poor child up for a lifetime of struggle never making it out of the struggle they already know (Payne).

Emotionally these children are traumatized, even from birth the emotional problem are clear/ children that experience poverty are more likely to experience depression, posttraumatic stress disorders, they are also more likely to become a victim of the court system. Suicide rates are high among children living in poverty. Approximately, thirty thousand children living in poverty take there lives each year. Although traumatic for all children, the NPC conducted a research showing how children react to poverty. When some children grow up in it they learn to slowly over come the situation they are in and turn out better, while other are constantly in a downward spiral . If you look out into your community, you would see numerous cases of emotional behavior based on poverty (Joliffe and Filiak). Ruby Payne identified the behavior related to children in poverty which included: physically fighting, easily angered, unaffected when being disciplined, cheating, stealing, argue loudly (Payne). Emotionally attachment and a sense of security are hard to achieve thus making the child hierarchy of need for children incomplete, leaving one of more of the following out: esteem, belonging, physiological, safety, or self-actualization (Ettinger, R.H P.437.) .

Countless children in poverty go on day in and day out hungry not having the proper nutrition to function nor keep a healthy body. Five million children are deprived of appropriate nutrition and housing conditions of those five million, One point five million children under the age of five suffer from health in food deprivations which stunt there bodies from growing properly (Nicely). Low birth weights and increased risks of infant mortality are high even before the child is born. Poverty affects every organ and every aspect of a child existence. The American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that people living in extreme poverty tend to have more chronic illnesses, more frequent and severe diseases and more complications also. Obesity, heart disease and asthma are also big in children living in poverty; these illnesses can continue to affect them later in adulthood. Along with the items listed above there are countless other health issues these children suffer at the hands of poverty.

Think about your children would you want them to experience these things because of poverty. How can we end this epidemic that takes over numerous lives. Today’s children that are in poverty are all too often tomorrow’s parent raising a child in poverty. Poverty is often generational passing from one generation to the next generation affecting the long-term health, wellbeing and productivity of families, which affects the society as a whole. Therefore, I challenge you, as well as myself, to extend a helping hand to help the ones who cannot help themselves and break the revolving door of poverty.

Observation skills are one of the most important skills for social workers to have. Social work involves imposing on peoples lives. Developing the ability to manage anxieties this creates, is essential, ensuring the child remains the focus within complex situations (Trowell and Miles 2004). Child development theories provide guidance on age-related changes in behaviours, thoughts, feelings, and social relationships (Bee and Boyd 2010). Social workers need knowledge of child development, to make an informed assessment whether a child is developing within the spectrum of ‘normal’ or if they are a child in need.

The observation model was an adjusted version of the Tavistock Model for studying infants. The original model observes a baby, an hour a week for the first one or two years of life, within the family home (Fawcett 2009). The observer does not take notes, as it allows them to notice all behaviours, movements and expressions of the child. Everything is recorded in detail after the observation. This can lead to forgetting some information within the write up. This model encourages the observer to avoid making judgements about the child’s behaviour and development until after the observation and to reflect on each observation (Fawcett 2009 and Quitak 2004).

The emphasis on reflection is strength of this model. It allows the observer to understand and separate their emotions and from the child’s emotions (Trowell and Miles 2004). This skill is essential for social workers to make informed assessment of the child.

Unlike the Tavistock Model, I completed five, one hour observations, in a nursery for three and four year olds. I did not take notes until observations 4 and 5, where I noted Sally’s language for accuracy. I completed detailed write ups straight after each observation and then took time to reflect upon my emotions and thoughts and Sally’s development.

The nursery was part of a primary school, run by the local authority. The building was separate to the rest of the primary school. It’s situated in a relatively affluent, middle class area, reflected in lower levels of free school meals compared to the general population. The nursery is open five days a week and the parent decides the days and times their child attends. Children can attend 8.30am to 11.30am, 12.30 to 3.30pm or all day from 8.30 to 3.30pm. Each session has between 15-20 children attending and the nursery has a total of forty children registered.

The two teachers have degrees in early year’s education. They work part-time, one on Monday and Tuesday and the other Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. There is a nursery manager and a nursery assistant working full-time and a volunteer supporting two days a week. The nursery manager supports children within the classroom and appears to have equal status to other staff.

The nursery is governed by Ofsted. The last report in October 2009 awarded the nursery a level of good. The report stated the overall effectiveness, outcomes, quality of provision and management of the Early Years Foundation stage was good.

The staff make home visits to all children before starting nursery, to introduce themselves to the parent and child. The nursery is well equipped for young children. There is a large outside playing area, with plenty of age appropriate toys, including plastic climbing frames, slides, bikes and drawing areas. There are windows all the way around the nursery making it light and airy, and the walls are covered with educational material and children’s work. String hangs across the nursery where children’s work is attached.

One end of classroom is the ‘free play’ area with bean bags, children’s sofas, books laid out and an interactive white board, which the children can use. The other end is for the children sit together as a class. There is a role-play area, containing a child’s kitchen, and a water tub with toys in. There are four tables in the nursery one set up for painting and art, one for writing and the other two with different activities everyday on. There are two computers each with educational games opened on them. When the weather is dry children are encouraged to play outside. All the children wear school uniform, navy jumper/cardigan, black trousers or skirt and a white t-shirt.

I observed a Muslim, British-Pakistani girl called ‘Sally’. She is aged 3 years and 5 months. She attends the nursery five days a week from 8.30am-3.30pm. She is slightly shorter than the average height, has long black hair, with big brown eyes. Her parents are married and her mum works at a local high school teaching I.T. She has an older sister and two cousins attending the primary school. She has been attending day care since about a year old, but began this nursery in September 2012.

I chose this nursery because it was a five minute walk from my house. It took a few weeks to contact the nursery manager because they were attending home visits. After speaking with this nursery manager she recommended Sally because she had ‘normal’ development, attended the nursery regularly and thought her parents would be happy to give consent.

I gave the nursery the information from the UEA and the consent letter for Sally’s mother to sign, which was returned, signed to me. I did not speak directly to Sally’s parents and was not introduced to Sally or the class. When I arrived at the observation I took a seat and started observing, which felt uncomfortable. In future observations, I would ask to be introduced to the class as someone watching how children grow, so I am not a stranger in the room. Sally was aware I was watching her but was unaware who and why I was doing this, which may be confusing for Sally. In future, I would speak to Sally, on my last observation to explain who I was and why I had been watching her.

My observations took place 01/10/2012, 12/10/2012, 9/11/2012, 24/11/2012 and 27/11/2012. Originally I organised my observations for Friday mornings between 9-10am. I planned this, so I could compare Sally’s development to limit other factors influencing her behaviour, such as tiredness at the end of the day. My first observation was scheduled for 28/09/2012; however, Sally was off sick. I decided to observe Monday 01/10/2012 between 9-10am, because I was at university the following Friday.

I had arranged an observation for 26/10/2012 but this was Eid and Sally was off school and the following week was half term. This created the large gap between the second and third observation. I completed my final observation on a Tuesday afternoon, 2.30-3.30pm, because it allowed me to observe Sally being collected by her aunt. Although the observations did not occur evenly spread, I was able to observe the difference in Sally with the different teachers. Observations one and five were completed with one teacher, two three and four the other. I chose observation three to analyse because provides a general overview of all areas of Sally’s development.

Observation in full
23/11/2012 Child observation
9.00-10.00am

Three teachers and 17 children present

When I arrived Sally was sitting in the back of the classroom being read a story by a volunteer helper. She was looking at the book at she was read to and listening to it. This lasted for around 2-3 minutes until the teacher rung the bell. Sally got up and put her fingers in the air and started to move her fingers back and forth (all the class do this to show attention is on the teacher). The teacher announced it was time for the good morning song and all the children needed to be seated on the carpet area. Sally moved over towards the carpeted area. She stopped at the Playdough table and began to make small round shapes with the Playdough and out them into paper cake holders. She was cutting the Playdough with a plastic spatula, to break the Playdough up into smaller sizes to fit in the cake holders. There were other children at the table doing the same thing as Sally was there.

The teacher said everyone should be sitting on the carpet; Sally looked up and then looked down again to carry on what she was doing. As she noticed the other children leaving she left. She and another boy were the last two to leave the table. Sally sat down on the carpet and pulled her trousers up to her knees and crossed her legs, putting her hands in her lap. She sat swaying for a short period of time side to side gently bumping into the boy sitting next to her, while he done the same towards her, smiling at each other.

The teacher went round and said hello to all the children, Sally replied ‘hello’ loudly with a wave towards the teacher. Sally looked over at me after she said hello and then quickly looked away.

The teacher began singing the good morning song, Sally did not sing along except for a few words. The teacher then said she had got the song wrong and Sally, along with all other children began to laugh. Sally’s face was animated with a large smile across her face. She had got up on her knees and was kneeling, rocking back and forth. The song began again and Sally sung along. She said ‘Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday too.’ When she said the too she said this a little bit loud with her facial features becoming more prominent. Her lips pointed out further as she said too. Sally counted ‘one, two, three, four, five, six, and seven’ as the days of the week were counted.

Sally was sat rocking on her knees as she sung to the song. As the song finished a nursery assistant touched Sally’s arm to indicate to sit back on the carpet and move backwards a bit. Sally responded to this and sat back down on the carpet with her legs crossed an arms tucked in her lap.

Sally pulled up her socks. She pulled them so they were up as far as they could go, she then continued to tug at them, appearing to try make them go higher up her leg. She did this for both legs. She then began to press the bottom of her shoe as this made the lights in the sole flash red.

The teacher told the class they would be doing a Christmas play and they would be getting dressed up and singing. The children were asked to stand up in a circle to practice some nursery rhymes. The class sung ‘humpty dumpty’. Sally knew all the words to this and sung along. She temporarily held the child’s hand next to her. Sally followed actions of the class to fall down when humpty dumpty had a great fall, then got up after the teacher said they didn’t need to fall down. Sally put her hands out in front of her with clenched fists and began to pretend to ride a horse, when the rhyme said all the kings’ horses. Sally was smiling while she was saying the rhyme. The class then sung ‘Hey Diddle Diddle’. Sally smiled during this rhyme but did not say too many words. She was looking around at other children, many of the other children did not say as much as the teacher did to this rhyme.

The class was asked to sit back down and the teacher would pick the children sitting well to choose activities to play with. Sally sat with her legs crossed and her arms between her legs, so she ended up sitting on her hands, and she was rocking back and forth. Sally was chosen to pick an activity.

Sally went over to the Playdough table and along with another 5 children began to make shapes with the Playdough. My view was blocked by the other children and could not see what shapes she was making but saw her interacting with other children. Sally looked at me a few times while she was playing with her Playdough, but showed no expression on her face as she looked at me. I smiled at her and then looked away around the classroom. Sally did not smile back when I smile at her.

Sally then moved over towards the back area where the teacher had gone. She sat down in the back corner on the children’s sofa with a book. She looked through the book quickly looking at each page quickly before turning the page. She sat there for a few minutes doing this, another girl came and sat next to her and looked at the book. My view was partly blocked by the children in front of her dancing. Another girl went over and stood in front of her, they exchanged words. I could not hear what was being said because of the children in front of her.

Sally moved over to the table and began to look at the nursery rhyme sheets which were lying on the table. She looked at each one and then moved onto the next sheet. The teacher came over and said to Sally ‘do you want me to read one to you? Which one would you like?’ Sally replied ‘that one’ and pointed to a blue sheet. The teacher began to read this. The teacher was then distracted by another child and left after reading the rhyme. Sally got up and moved slightly away from the chair she was sitting on.

Sally got up and began to dance alongside the teacher to a train song. The song has a video which is shown on the interactive white board. Sally was put her hands out in front of her slightly bent and made them go round in circles, like a trains wheels. The teacher said ‘I like your dancing Sally, have you been practicing?’ Sally looked up and smiled at the teacher and carried on dancing. She began to become more animated in her moves, moving around the carpet with her arms going up and down.

Sally said ‘my foot’ and the teacher looked down and said ‘sorry Sally, are you ok?’ Sally continued to dance to the song. The next song was a song about stars and Sally moved her arms out the side and her spread her legs (like a star) and then began jumping up and down. Sally danced for the whole song. She then danced to the football song, and pretended to kick a football with her leg.

The teacher said ‘Sally come here’ and Sally went over towards the teacher. She stood next to her and she explained the order for the children to choose the song on the interactive whiteboard. Joanne would be before Sally. The teacher told another child this and as she said and then Joanne, Sally said ‘and then meaˆ¦and then me’. Smiling and looking in the direction of the teacher. As the song finished she said out loud ‘your turn!’ To the child who was next to choose the song.

A boy went up to Sally as she was dancing and she showed her a toy butterfly. Sally looked at him and smiled and said ‘that’s not mine’. She briefly took it off him and looked at it and then handed it back to the boy.

The boy walked away and as he did another boy came up to Sally and started to push her. Sally’s face went from smiling to frowning. The boy stopped as they both got closer to the bookcase, and sally moved away from him, still frowning. The teacher said ‘are you pushing sally Harry?’ As Sally saw the teacher approach her bottom lip dropped and started to wobble, Sally walked towards the teacher and looked up towards her. She made a few sounds like she would begin to cry. This quickly stopped as the teacher spoke to the boy, Sally now had her back to me but I could see she was rubbing her face as the teacher spoke to Harry. The boy apologised to Sally after the teacher had asked him to – ‘sorry Sally’.

The teacher moved away to a different area of the classroom, Sally followed her. I could not hear what was said, but appeared to ask the teacher a question and tell her a short story. The teacher knelt down to Sally’s height and listened and responded to her. The teacher asked Sally whether she wanted to paint a picture for her mum or to do some writing. Sally said ‘writing Mrs (teachers name). Sally followed the teacher to the writing table. She stood at the table for a few seconds then looked at the drawing table. She walked over to get an apron and stood beside the table. She looked at the girl standing next to her, who had just sat on the chair in front of her and then stood up. She went to sit on the chair, but then got up again. They both stood next to the chair.

Sally stood looking at the table and the other children sitting at it, clutching her apron. The teacher said to another child the shape was a diamond, Sally said ‘diamond’ as she stood there. The teacher replied ‘yes’. Sally began to draw a shape in the air with her fingers. She made the shape of a diamond. She moved her arm down and outwards, then down and inwards. She then moved her arm back up. The teacher said ‘yes that’s a diamond shape’.

The teacher said to Sally ‘you have to wait until there’s a space for you to do itaˆ¦.oh there is a space now James has just finished’. Sally walked over to the teacher and looked at her. I could see if she asked for her help to put the apron on. The teacher said ‘I want to see if you can put your apron on, can you do it?’ The teacher then showed Sally how to put her apron on, putting it over her head and arms through the wholes.

Sally sat down at the table and picked up different sponge shapes to print them onto the paper. She printed the amount of shapes she wanted on the paper and then put the sponges back; each sponge had different colour paint. She put each sponge in the correct pot it had come from. She said to another girl ‘can I put that back?’ she was standing up leaning across the table with her arm pushed out, trying to put the sponge back in the correct pot, which the girl was holding. The girl handed the pot to her.

After she had finished her painting she took her paper over to the teacher and stood next to her, showing her. The teacher said ‘let’s have a look at your painting, that’s lovely. Can you name the shapes for me?’ sally pointed to each shape saying ‘diamond’ at the diamond shapes, ‘circles’ at the circles and ‘squares’ at the squares. Sally got stuck on one diamond shape as she had printed it in a different direction to the others. The teacher said ‘that’s a diamond as well; look if we turn the page you can see it’s a diamond’.

She tried to walk behind the teacher’s chair, between a small gap and a set of drawers. The teacher said ‘what do you say..excuse me please’. Sally replied ‘excuse me please’. The teacher moved her chair and the stack of drawers and Sally walked through the gap.

Sally came and sat next to me at the table I was sitting at, where the teacher was also sitting. Sally was kneeling on the chair. The teacher was talking to another child about the hedgehogs they had previously made. Sally lent across the table and said ‘I did one, I did one’. She began to feel the clay hedgehogs she had made previously. They had uncooked spaghetti sticking out of the for the hedgehogs spikes. As she touched them she said ‘ow ow’. She turned to look at me and said ‘I just touched a hedgehog’ holding her hand out in front of her, to show me her hand. I replied ‘are you ok’ She smiled and turned away. She then turned back to me and said ‘what’s your name?’ I smiled and said ‘Lisa’. She turned away again. Sally asked the teacher ‘where’s my hedgehog aˆ¦ I don’t want to touch the spikes’

She had small whiteboards in front of her to write on. She was using her fingers to clear the pen which had been left on it. A nursery helper came over with some tissue for her to use to wipe it off.

She looked over to the girl sitting on the other side of the teacher. The teacher was holding a laminated name card with Sarah written on it. ‘Is that how you spell Sarah?’ Sally asked the teacher. The teacher said ‘yes’ it’s similar to your name ‘sss, s for Sally’. Sally asked the teacher ‘where’s my name?’ The teacher found Sally’s name out of the stack of name cards and showed her, her name.

Sally was still leaning forward towards the table and had not sat back properly on her seat. Her bum was on the front edge of the chair and she was leaning forward, towards the table. The teacher told her she was worried she would fall off her chair and onto the floor and pulled her seat closer to the table. Sally told the teacher ‘you just, just pushed me!’ the teacher responded saying she meant to push the chair in. Are you ok?’ Sally said ‘yes’ and the teacher said ‘sorry’.

Sally said she was trying to write all the names of the children in the nursery. She was saying ‘James, John, Ellie, Rob’ drawing small black circles, about three or four in row, resembling a word. The teacher asked her if she was writing the names of all the children in the class. Sally said she was as. Sally wrote a letter resembling a ‘P’ and the teacher said if you draw a line down from there (pointing to where the circle of the p meets the line down) you can create an R. ‘R for Rob’

Sally looked at the teacher and asked her ‘how do you spell my name on the board?’ The teacher wrote Sally on the white board and said ‘can you copy and write your name?’ Sally used the black whiteboard to attempt to write her name. Sally was writing small black blobs and circles which appeared to be drawing instead of writing. Sally was concentrated and focused on attempting to write her name. She said ‘rub my name out and no one can see’; Sally was rubbing the board with her hand to remove the marker pen. The teacher said to her ‘good thing can start again.’

Observation ended

Analysis of one observation
Cognitive development

Piaget suggested children have an active part in developing knowledge and understanding (Bee and Boyd 2010). He suggests cognitive development progresses through stages, relating to changes in brain structure and intelligence. The stages are sensori-motor stage (0-2 years), pre-operational stage (2-7years), concrete operational stage (7-12years) and formal operational stage (12+ years) (Smith, Cowie and Blades 2005).

Sally is 3.5 years, therefore at the preoperational stage of development. During this stage children develop symbolic thought, the ability to think of one thing but representation it in a different form, enabling language development and imaginative play (Smith, Cowie and Blades 2005). The preoperational child has egocentric thinking, focusing only on their view and believing everyone has the same view. They struggle to understand conservation – small changes in appearance do not change the object or its quantity (Bee and Boyd 2006).

However, Vygotsky suggested Piaget did not acknowledge the impact the social environment has on cognitive development. Vygotsky believed social interaction is vital for cognitive development, he believed children maximise their potential working with more capable others (Schaffer 2004). Vygotsky described the ‘zone of proximal development’ (ZPD), the difference between the child’s knowledge and, with support, what they are capable of learning. A more capable person offers guidance and support, to the child during the task. Demonstrating how to complete a task and giving feedback on what’s right or wrong. The guidance provided a level above the child’s current level of understanding, but not above what they are capable of learning, it’s within their ZPD. This guidance is called scaffolding (Schaffer 2004).

These are examples, demonstrate Sally’s preoperational stage of cognitive development, this is expected for Sally’s age. Sally demonstrates symbolic thought through her use of language and through her actions. Sally sung ‘Humpty Dumpty’, clenching ‘her fists and began pretend to ride a horse’. Sally’s ability to use symbolic thought was shown through her action of pretending to ride a horse her thought was represented in her actions. This was also shown when Sally’s dancing to a football song. She ‘pretended to kick a football with her leg’. Showing Sally’s ability to hold the thought of a pretend ball and express kicking it in actions.

Sally had difficulty understanding conservation. After painting she struggled to name a diamond because it was a different position. ‘The teacher said, “That’s a diamond as well; look if we turn the page you can see it’s a diamond”. This shows Sally struggling to understand shape remains unchanged even if its position on the paper is different.

Scaffolding examples are shown between Sally and the teacher. ‘Sally wrote a letter resembling a ‘P’, the teacher said if you draw a line down from there (pointing to where the circle of the p meets the line down) you can create an R. ‘R for Rob’. Before this Sally attempted to write the names of children in the class, one called Rob. This was within Sally’s ZPD because she had created a ‘P’; the teacher recognised this and guided her to write an ‘R’, from the ‘P’. Sally asked ‘how do you spell my name on the board?’ The teacher wrote Sally on the white board and asked ‘can you copy and write your name?’ Sally attempted to copy this. This demonstrates the teacher giving examples and guidance to complete an action.

Language development

Social Learning Theory (SLT) suggests language is learnt through imitation and reinforcement (Smith, Cowie and Blades 2005). Skinner suggested children imitate adult’s speech, developing language. Noises resembling words are reinforced, and therefore repeated, overtime developing into words. Children use adults for guidance on what sounds and words to make, correct meaningful words are responded to positively, incorrect words are corrected, until speech becomes adult like (Smith, Cowie and Blades 2005). This is supported by children having higher language abilities when spoken to more often and developing the same language and accent as adults they spend time with (Smith, Cowie and Blades 2005). However language is learnt to quickly for this to fully explain language development (Passer and Smith 2003).

Chomsky argues language has an innate, biological basis. The Language Acquisition Device (LAD) allows language to be learnt (Smith, Cowie and Blades 2005). LAD identifies regularities in language, tests new words against these, either accepting or rejecting them (Smith, Cowie and Blades 2005). Children appear to develop language through the same stages, understanding certain grammar before others, making similar errors in production and comprehension at each stage (Whitaker 2010) supporting LAD theory.

Sheridan (2008) suggests certain speech patterns are evident at ages three and four. At three children ask lots of ‘wh’ questions (what, when, why), identify objects by function, count up to ten (learnt by repetition) and listen to stories, wanting favourites repeated. At four children know nursery rhymes, use understandable, grammatically correct speech, begin counting objects and can count up to twenty (Sheridan 2008).

SLT is evidenced when Sally needs to walk past the teacher. The teacher said ‘what do you sayaˆ¦excuse me please’. Sally replied ‘excuse me please’. Sally imitated the teachers’ words; this was reinforced by the teacher letting Sally past. She’s learnt saying this, means other people move out of her way.

As Sheridan (2008) suggested for three years, Sally listened whilst being read to, ‘She was looking at the book as she was read to and listening to it. This lasted for around 2-3 minutes’ until interrupted. In addition ‘Sally counted ‘one, two, three, four, five, six, and seven’.

Sally sung nursery rhymes, ‘Humpty Dumpty’, and ‘Hey Diddle, Diddle’ and used complex, grammatically correct sentences; ‘Is that how you spell Sarah?’ and ‘how do you spell my name on the board?’ Suggesting Sally’s language is slightly above what’s expected for her age, showing signs of a four year old level (Sheridan 2008). Teachers at the nursery commented her language is above what they would expect for her age.

Sally’s language development being slightly above expectations could relate to attending a high quality nursery, since an early age. The National Institute of Child and Human Development (NICHD) Early Child Care Research Network (2000) suggested high quality day care is associated with better cognitive and language development although quantity of time in day care had neither positive nor negative effects on these developmental areas. Language development was measured on parental feedback, not standardized testing. Possibly biasing results, parents may not want to think their child is underachieving so exaggerate ability.

Social development and play

Piaget suggested children’s play goes through stages. Constructive play is the first to be achieved (before 2 years), pretend play (2-3 years), socio-dramatic play (3-5 years) and rule governed play (by 5 or 6 years) (Bee and Boyd 2006). Sally is at the socio-dramatic stage of play. Two or more children take roles to act in a pretend scenario. Dunn and Cutting (1999) found children who pretend play with friends, maintain friendlier play for longer. This helped children develop ‘Theory of Mind’ understanding others thoughts and feelings. Socio-dramatic play is evidenced in later observations.

Parten (1932) suggested different types of play, solitary independent play (alone), parallel play (alongside each other, little interaction), occurs between 2.5 and 3.5 years, associative play (activities completed with others, without organization or direction) occurs between 3.5 and 4.5 years and cooperative or organised supplementary play (organised activities, aiming towards a goal). Evidence is discussed in the next section.

There’s limited evidence of Sally playing in this observation. She displays associative play at the table, playing with Playdough and interacting with five other children. Play is not organised, they are completing similar activities without a specific goal.

Howes, Phillips and Whitebook (1992) suggest lower quality care can result in children wandering, not being involved in social activities or play with peers and teachers. This can have a negative impact on children’s social and cognitive development. However higher quality care with developmentally appropriate activities, encourage children to socialise and interact with teachers and peers have more socially competent children.

Moral development

Kohlberg refined Piaget’s theory of moral development, suggesting three levels of development, each containing two stages (Kohlberg and Hersh 1977). Preconventional Level is level one, containing stage one – ‘The punishment and obedience orientation’ and stage two – ‘The Individualism, instrumental purpose and exchange’. Level two is ‘Conventional Level’, containing stage three – ‘Mutual interpersonal expectations, relationships and interpersonal conformity’ and stage four – ‘Social system and conscience’. Level three is Postconventional or Principled Level, containing stage five – ‘The social-contract orientation’ and stage six – ‘the universal ethical principle orientation’ (Kohlberg and Hersh 1977). Kohlberg suggested people move up through stages, but few reach the Postconventional level. People understand reasoning one stage above theirs but struggle understanding above this. Being in a social group is important to learn what is morally right and wrong (Kohlberg and Hersh 1977). Therefore children in day care have the opportunity to learn from others about right and wrong.

Children below nine are usually at the Preconventional level, including Sally. Reasoning and judgements are based on what authority says is right or wrong (Bee and Boyd 2010), for Sally this is teachers or parents. Right or wrong is understood as what’s punished, children follow rules to avoid punishment. Stage two; rules are followed when in their immediate interest. Good, is what has pleasant results (Bee and Boyd 2010). Kohlberg suggests, despite gender or culture moral development happens this way (Passer and Smith 2003). Although, Sally is British-Pakistani she will progress through these stages.

Kohlberg is criticised for having a male bias theory and basing his theory on clinical research using scenarios, not based on real life (Smith, Cowie and Blades 2005).

Sally displays moral development resembling stage one. She’s well behaved, following rules during the observation. The class have been told when the bell rings, stop, put their hands up and look at the teacher. When the bell rung ‘Sally go

The topic of this research is looking into child obesity and whether it gives cause to come under child neglect laws. This will be done in a literature review format incorporating interviews to look at fact and opinions on the matter. The results provide a complex over view and debate the topic thoroughly, taking into consideration affecting factors. Yes, child obesity can be neglect if a parent’s have persistently ignored guidance and failed to seek needed help. It can also be no as not every child obese case gives cause to be considered neglect and it is extremely rare.

“Obesity is a condition in which weight gain has reached the point of seriously endangering health. While some people are genetically more susceptible than others, the direct cause of obesity in any individual is always an excess of energy intake over energy expenditure” (Chambers and Wakely, 2002: X).

The issues arisen from criminalising child obesity being under the law of child neglect will be critically discussed in this dissertation.

Obesity is a major concern in the UK, proven to potentially shorten lives by up to 9 years, health professionals are starting to express their worries of parents outliving their children as a consequence of the health problems that accompany obesity (Kellow, 2011). Some of the possible health implications of child obesity are: diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and osteoarthritis (Sullivan, 2004 and Heaton-Harris, 2009). In 2010 20% of boys and 17% of girls aged 11-15 could be described as clinically obese, with 14% and 15% aged between 2-10 being obese. From 1995 child obesity has risen 6% for boys and 3% for girls (reference). This would make nearly 1 in 5 of all children not just overweight, but a t the point of serious health issues (Health Survey for England, 2010). It is already said to be costing the UK ?2 billion annually (Kellow, 2011) and estimated to increase to ?50 billion annually by 2050 if trends continue (Butland et al. 2007). The increase in child obesity has sparked a moral panic about the concern for children’s health driving the government to do more to protect children from becoming obese. Obesity is defined by BMI which stands for body mass index. BMI is calculated by dividing a person’s weight (in kg) by their height (in meters). To be classed as obese a person’s BMI would need to be over 30, and to be classed as morbidly obese, which is extreme cases of obesity the BMI would need to be 40 or above (Chambers and Wakely, 2002).

This is not what you expect to be talking about when discussing children, as the stereotypical image of a child is healthy and happy, getting plenty of exercise and being fed properly. However, Heaton-Harris (2009:14) provides an opposite portrayal, saying “Obese children are less active than the average pensioner”. She then goes onto explain that overweight children will get out of breath after 5 minutes due to the additional strain on the heart to pump excessively around the body, which is too large and demanding oxygen rich blood. It is clear from the statement that Heaton-Harris (2009) argues that obese children are very disadvantaged and unfit. Children are vulnerable and dependant on parents and guardians and it is their duty is to make sure their children are healthy and happy. Ford-Martin (2005) says that children learn by example and that as a parent or guardian you are their primary role model. The parents or guardians of children struggling with obesity are therefore failing their children as the child is severely unhealthy and is at risk of severe health problems. It currently can become a child protection issue if children are allowed to eat excessive amounts of food, or have a seriously unbalanced diet (Grady, 2012). In extreme cases children can be removed from parental or guardian care by the court due to the affecting factor, children being obese. The fact that children sometimes need protection from parents if they are obese is interesting and leads onto the discussion whether this should also be a punishable offence.

As it stands the definition of child neglect is, “a persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or developmental needs. Neglect includes failing to provide for a child’s health, education, emotional development, nutrition, clothing, shelter, safety and safe living conditions, and includes exclusion of the child from the home and abandonment. It is different from poverty, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), because it happens when there is failure to provide the resources to meet a child’s needs if those resources exist or should be available” (Bovarnick online, 2007).

This definition explains under current statute what would be classed as child neglect and as you can see this covers a very wide spectrum. Although it does say “failing to provide for a child’s health” (Bovarnick online, 2007).This could allow child obesity to fit into this category. Although generally the main focus of child neglect is failure to provide a child with something not allowing children excessive amounts of something.

The question this dissertation sets out to answer is whether or not child obesity presents the scope to be punishable by law under child neglect statute. The aims are to establish how much blame is on the media, technology and parents to establish whether or not it is justifiable to hold them responsible for the obesity state their child/children are in. This question will be looked at through current literature and interviews to see what people think about the issue also.

The first chapter discussing the role media and technology play on the obesity state of the youth in the UK. The second chapter puts forward the debate on whether or not parents should take the main responsibility of their children’s obesity state. The third and final chapter deliberates the on-going debate on the issues of child obesity being a form of child neglect taking into consideration both of the discussed issues presented in the previous chapters. The impending investigation takes the format of a literature review, which incorporates interviews also. There is extensive literature on the topic of child obesity in the UK which is taken advantage of in the format being used to answering the question set out. As well as gathering qualitative data from interviews to get opinions and see if they back up the literature found.

Chapter 2: Methodology

“The methods section is the most important aspect of a research paper because it provides the information by which the validity of a study is ultimately judged” (Kallet, 2004:1129).

2.1: Research design and rationale

Child neglect and child obesity are both current issues and can both impose health problems to children. It is an on-going debate whether child obesity should come under child neglect laws which can hold parents or guardians responsible and therefore punish them for the obesity state their child/children are in. These two topics for investigation are strongly linked and consequently showing a need to investigate them together and answer the question whether child obesity should be criminalised. The methodology used to conduct this investigation into child neglect and child obesity is mainly library based research but incorporated into the research investigation is a short interview to compare with the literature based findings.

The methodological approach needs to fit the purpose and the question being researched. Therefore justification for the methods used in any research being conducted needs to be established (Kumar, 2011). This is also backed up by Robson (2002), who articulates the data collected by the researcher in any topic is dependent on the particular research question and aims.

Winstanley (2009) and Saunders et al., (2007) state there are two categories research can be separated into; primary research and secondary research. According to Sorenson (2010) the difference between the two is how the research is gathered: primary research is collected by the researcher whereas secondary research is carried out using already existing data.

Secondary data according to Bryman and Bell (2007) and Zikmund (2003) is when, documents by other researchers are analysed by people most commonly not involved in the collection process. This allows experience and knowledge to be drawn from other academics which may be vital to the subject area being discussed. This paper is at an under-graduate level making expert knowledge and expertise crucial in making the paper of value in the academic world. Zikmund (2003) also draws attention to the lower cost, which is also a main advantage over primary data which can be expensive. Saunders et al. (2007) comment that secondary research allows a wide range of information to be gathered such as: quantitative, qualitative, descriptive and explanatory data. However every form of data collection comes with weaknesses. Secondary data may provide a lot of good quality information but may not link entirely with the given research questions and aims providing no value towards further research; this is something researchers need to consider. In a lot of instances it can be near impossible to find sufficient information (Zikmund, 2003). Also if pre-existing data is relevant, credible and specifically what the researcher needs to discuss time and effort designing and collating new research maybe a waste of the researcher’s time.

Secondary research was the main data collection method chosen as it seemed the best choice to answer the question on whether child obesity should or is criminalised. When talking about a debate that already exists it is paramount to include current literature, especially when this issue is a current governmental and political matter. With an abundance of existing research in this area, secondary data collection was the easiest method and the most appropriate main form of data collection. However the weaknesses pointed out do need to be noted as secondary data can provide such a wide scope of data and most of it may be irrelevant and only relevant data needs to be discussed, this will be discussed in more detail under the inclusion/exclusion of data. The debate on criminalising child obesity is a current one in the academic world however this dissertation took a new direction, by adding interviews as there would have been no point carrying out something that had been done before.

The secondary data gathered was in the form of a library based dissertation also known as a literature review. This is the main source of information being used to discuss the issues of child obesity and whether criminalising it is appropriate and considers: journals, newspapers, reports, textbooks, abstracts, media sources both electronically and in hard copy format (Hart, 1998). Hart says that a literature review is

” The selection of available documents on the topic, which contain ideas, data and evidence written from a particular standpoint to fulfil certain aims or express certain views on the nature of the topic and how it is to be investigated and the effective evaluation of these documents in relation to the research being proposed (1998: 13).”

Literature reviews are seen as very important and as Aveyard (2010: 6) explains them to be like “jigsaw puzzles” as you piece each part of the puzzle (piece of literature) together to give the reader the overall picture. Therefore playing an important part allowing all relevant information on a given topic to be in one place at the same time, this brings to light conflicting academic works to be seen together which may have gone unnoticed before. This type of research can also incur new insights to be drawn as a result of re-analysing previous sources. However Aveyard (2010) notices they are useful but in order to be reliable they need rigour and structure. The idea is not to find literature to back up the desired answer but to open-mindedly collate information to reach and answer on a predefined question. This is very important as literature reviews permits the overall picture to be seen and therefore hopefully eliminating bias so the researcher needs to adhere to this and this why it is vital that a systematic approach is taken. Hart (1998) establishes that literature reviews need to present all available documents on the chosen topic not just selected few to give the reader everything to make up their mind. This poses a difficulty as the resources available to an under graduate student will not allow a team of researchers and there are time constraints. This is why a systematic approach will be adhered to but may not reach the exact same criteria a fully funded and resourced literature review will.

To present information to allow a reader to reach his/her own conclusions on the predefined question, whether childhood obesity should be criminalised, it will be thoroughly researched selecting only relevant information. The systematic approach used key terms (Appendix 2: 54) to search the library data base at Buckinghamshire New University and the internet. This was systematic do uncover any relevant literature which ensured everything relating to the topic was read and if found useful was then included in the discussion.

However this is not the only form of data collection being used as primary research is also being used in the form of interviews which shapes the literature already in circuit to cater directly to the needs of the question and objectives giving and already existing topic area a new direction. The dissertation aims to uncover not only current issues and debates but people’s attitudes and thoughts which are only possible if opting to incorporate primary data also that adds value to the issues being presented. The interview questions were formed around the literary findings, which then allowed the literature and interviews to be compared and discussed.

Interviews were conducted as part of the research which is one of the main methods of gathering primary data; permitting data to be brought together that has not been gathered previously. Ghauri et al. (2005) highlights one of the main advantages of using primary research methods is the data is going to be relevant as it is specifically gathered to the specialised research area, this is also backed up by Zikmund (2003). Being able to shape the data being gathered to suit the needs of the study allows consistent information to be provided. Saunders et al. (2007) points out that a main limitation to primary research is interviewee and interviewer bias when using focus groups. The research in this study does not involve focus groups for this exact reason to decrease the chance of bias. However the interviewee’s and interviewer were criminology students and may present a bias for that reason. Having bias makes it less reliable which affects the validity and also makes it hard to generalise results, this is something to be taken into consideration for this study. Nevertheless this is a valid point and makes the study less reliable but not an easy issue to overcome given the ethical restrictions and materials available for the study.

The library based element and the interview section are both focusing on qualitative data, however there will be some secondary data featured in the form of quantitative statistics jotted throughout. Bryman (2001: Page number) describes qualitative research to be a “strategy that usually emphasizes words, feelings, perception, and qualitative research tends to be concerned with words rather than numbers”. The point of the dissertation is to look into the perception people have and the way society see child obesity and what they think in regards to it being criminalised. Hoepfl (1997) stated that qualitative research allows data to discover the meaning of events rather quantitative using numbers to establish facts. Qualitative data provides the means to find out what people’s attitudes and intentions are about fundamental topics (Ghauri et al, 2005). This permits researchers to broaden knowledge and insight in their chosen topic. This is very useful and one of the main reasons interviews were picked was to develop an understanding of whether obesity is seen as criminal as it will give an insight to people’s opinions on the issue as well as comparing it to current literature available.

Interviews were chosen as they have potential to gain rich and insightful data (Robson, 2011). Sarantakos (1988) highlights the main advantages of interviews are: there flexible and adaptable, they directly ask the questions and can assess non-verbal behaviour, which can sometimes reverse the meaning. Robson (2007) also highlights that direct face to face interviews have advantages as you can measure the seriousness which participants take the exercise and you get a higher response rate as it is harder to say no. Although Sarantakos also points out that there are disadvantages such as biases are hard to rule out and that interviews are very time-consuming considering the time it takes to transcribe interviews. Interviews were picked from this study to gage an understanding of what people thought about childhood obesity as from interviews you can directly ask the questions you need answered. It was tailored to the topic of the dissertation which allowed the discussion of both literature and the data found in the interviews. Interviews not only helped to gage an understanding and present data for discussion but as it was done whilst the literature was being gathered it showed areas that were in need for research to cover the topic of child obesity. For example, in one interview the topic of illnesses and diseases that can make you obese was discussed about bringing to light this new area to be included.

The interviews will be carried out on two separate days with 5 interviews on one day and 5 on the other. All interviewees were handed a leaflet (Appendix 3:55-56) to inform them that the interview will remain anonymous and that they can stop at any time and this leaflet is then signed by each interviewee to ensure consent is present. Participant numbers will be used when discussing in the main paper and no names will be included within the dissertation to keep identities confidential. There will also be a verbal introduction read out to participants to ensure consistency (Appendix 4: 57). 10 students will be asked the same three questions in the same order. Interviewees will be both genders but all over the age of 18 attending Buckinghamshire New University. They were interviewed in a rentable room in the library of Bucks New University. All interviews were recorded on a Dictaphone and transcribed after all participants had completed the interview. The interviews will be structured and based upon four questions (appendix 4: 57). Interviewees were asked to explain their answers in as much detail as they could.

A main advantage of the research design is that it incorporated both secondary and primary research by being a library based review including short interviews to compare and possibly back up the literature based findings. The disadvantages of just doing one form of research will be minimised as you will decrease the disadvantages of doing primary or secondary by using both. For example a main disadvantage of using primary research is researcher bias which can still occur but will be compared to other literature on the same topic so this will be minimised, this makes the results found in the dissertation a higher validity.

2.2: Data Analysis
2.2.1 Library Based Research

A library based search is an analytical overview of literature on a given topic. In order to present the literature found in from the library search it was thoroughly studied and then broken down into the three chapters. They were broken down into chapters to specifically analyse each section of information uncovered giving the direct access to then compare to the interview findings.

2.2.2 Interviews

Gibbs (2007) describes coding as the direction you take when analysing your data, where you systematically link together similar theories and descriptions. Robson (2011) explains the importance of thematic coding has to drawing points of interest out of data. Thematic coding was used to analyse the data gathered from the interviews as the reason they were carried out was to gage what people thought about child obesity. The interviews consisted of people’s thoughts and ideas and being able to dissect the meaning of these gives value to the data collected and transforms it to a functional format, this is then used when discussing the issues that arose. Being able to identifying general themes from the interviews was necessary in understanding more about the phenomenon. It was especially useful in pin pointing specific areas in need for discussion as child obesity is a broad topic; this was how the chapters were chosen.

There were a lot of advantages to thematic coding such as: flexibility, being easy to pick up, within reach to those with little or no experience and it allowed key features to be summarised which then made it easy to remark on in the chapters. However the main disadvantages these were: being flexible it gave the potential for a broad range of data which could then be confusing to interpret and use and that coding may be limited to description or exploration and not very focused towards interpretation (Robson, 2011).

Robson (2011) then goes onto describe the five phases to thematic coding: the first phase is familiarising yourself with data, the second phase generating initial codes, the third identifying themes, the fourth constructing thematic networks and the fifth and final phase integration and interpretation stage. Miles and Huberman (1994) mention that there are more than one stage to coding the first level is attaching labels to groups and the second putting the initial themes into a smaller amount of themes.

2.3: Inclusion/Exclusion of Criteria

Research materials included in the research investigation would need to be from the UK and information from other countries or discussing other countries will be excluded as the points will not be as relevant, unless it specifically addresses the UK or is used in a comparative style. Another crucial point is the date period which is something the researcher should be aware of (Zikmund, 2003). If a publication was older than 10 years it is not likely to still be of importance, however in the case of childhood obesity it seems to be a newly mediated topic which can mean that all information is still of relevance. So literature that is older than 10 years will only be included if it seems to still be of significant importance or a pivotal point for discussion.

Chapter 3: Child Obesity, media and technology

“Of course, with the important role comes responsibility, the media must operate in an ethical and responsible way” (Browne, J, 2011, online).

This chapter looks at the part media and technology play in the child obesity epidemic. The media cannot be punished for neglecting children as they do not owe the same duty of care parents do, establishing how much the media affects the problem of obesity nevertheless will benefit the overall argument. It can be broken down into three categories, firstly the rise in technology, which has increased sedentary activities among youths. Secondly, with the issue of child obesity increasing this has led to an upsurge of media coverage on the issue (Kim and Wills, 2007), the ways in which the issue is portrayed may too affect child obesity. Thirdly studies have shown that advertising of junk foods may be directly linked to the increase of child obesity, and has been a topic of much discussion in recent years. It is important to remember that not only are media there to inform but they aim to educate and entertain and are getting paid so it is important to remember they may have hidden agendas (Melville-Brown, 2007) as well as their aim being to publicise health problems not rectify them.

3.1: Literature Findings
3.1.1 Sedentary lifestyles amongst youths

The involvement children have with physical activity has noticeably decreased over the past 20 years. Dr Watkins (cited in Cole and Kmietowicz, 2007:334) stated that “free range children have been replaced with battery reared children reared in cyberspace, and that’s the reason for the epidemic of childhood obesity”. This highlights that the increased participation in sedentary activities, that are more readily available for the children of today, play a huge role in their lives and may impact on the statistical increase of childhood obesity. The changes in lifestyle that causes lack of physical exercise and the consumption of more high in fat foods are thought to be major influences to obesity, even when taking into consideration genetic causes that are coming to light more and more (Warren et al., 2003). What are the pin point changes in society that caused this change in lifestyle? We now live in an instant culture (Heaton-Harris, 2009). Children in today’s society spend their time playing video games and socialising on the internet rather than meeting face to face. It is these sedentary pursuits that allows children to do little exercise and encourages them to snack more. Ford – Martin (2005) found that 92% of children had a home gaming system and the average time a day children spend in front of a media screen is 6 and a half hours. It is no wonder that child obesity is on the rise and physical activity is at an all-time low among young children. It is starting at such a young age as a Kaiser family foundation study (cited in Ford-Martin, 2005) found that a third of all children aged six and younger had their own televisions in their bedrooms. The children of today do not know anything different than sitting down in front of computers and televisons. It is not that sedentary activities are what children are most commonly engaging in. It is worrying because it is replacing physical exercise of youth altogether (Ofcom, 2004).

Ofcom (2004) emphasise that there is a correlation between watching television, poor diet, poor health and obesity with children and adults. Steinbeck (2001) links the decrease in physical activity to the increase of child obesity; Biddle, Gorely and Stensel (2004) believe this to be true also. It would appear to attempt overcoming the child obesity epidemic children need to lessen their time involved in sedentary activities and partake in more physical activities.

3.1.2 Media Coverage

Rodgers (2009, online) believes there is currently a panic surrounding child obesity in the UK with this sudden rise of media attention. Marsh and Melville (2011, online) describe moral panics as an exaggerated social reaction to something embraced by the mass media, which is caused by the activities of certain groups and/or individuals. This becomes the source of major public concern that amplifies the ‘panic’ surrounding such activities.

The TV series ‘Jamie’s school dinners’ (2005), presented by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, made a huge impact on child obesity, the media coverage on the topic and public perceptions. The Chef uncovered that 97% of school children were getting a totally unbalanced diet on a daily basis and this needed to change for the benefit of children’s health. A nutritionist on the series explained that the current school dinners lacked fruit, veg and vitamin C which are crucial in forming immunity (Jamie’s School Dinners, 2005). The TV series not only changed the public perception, more importantly led to changes by the government to ensure children had healthier school dinners.

The Department for Education (2013), explains the government’s current stance that there are strict nutrient-based standards that all schools in England need to comply with. This includes food and drink that can be obtained throughout a school day. The Government clearly state that they take the issue of healthy school dinner’s seriously, as it can affect children’s willingness to learn, behaviour and eating habits for life. The School’s Food Trust (2007, online) is a document that sets out the compulsory standards the Government insisted on that needed to be in place by September 2009. A 2011 article in the Sunday Observer shows that since the positive change to healthier school dinners that there has been an increase in not only learning as test results show but absences have dropped by 14% (Boffey, 2011). The media therefore has positive effects as well as negative.

The media has seen to be useful for informing people about child obesity and helping to overcome the epidemic, as Jamie School Dinner’s is a prime example. However the media is widely known to provide misconceptions, which could worsen the issue. As it has been discussed child obesity is prominently featured in the media. When an important issue such as a child’s health is at stake it is important that the issue is honestly portrayed ensuring it can be dealt with effectively. An argument is that the media portray only the extreme cases of obesity as that would be ‘shocking’ news stories (Winterman, 2012). This then leads people to think that to be obese you would need to be extremely obese which may be cause for confusion and misunderstanding. As shown when half of parents underestimated the size of an obese child which implies that the media maybe the cause of this dangerous misconception (Winterman, 2012). If parents are misinformed by the media this could have life threatening affects for children who are obese, especially if it encourages the parents to believe that their children are not obese and do not take much needed action.

It has also been noted that prime time TV shows about obesity, that dominate popular channels, give the wrong impression about obesity also. Boyce and Inthorn, (2007) studied programmes that were dedicated primarily to obesity, and came to the realisation that the shows directed blame on individuals generally rather than a public health issue. They tended to give the impression that it was down to self-control and discipline of the individual, with weight control being easily attainable as a result. The study also found that the programmes failed to improve levels of knowledge on obesity as it used shame and humiliation to persuade people to lose weight not knowledge. Jones (2006) backs this relaying that lack of correct information is a key problem. Rees et al. (2011) interviewed children about obesity, and they also shared the opinion shared by most TV programmes on obesity and thought if a child was obese they were to blame as it was something the media made out to be controllable. This false idea that obesity is easily controllable is wrong and may cause a lot of bullying in schools.

3.1.3 Advertising

It’s not just TV programmes that are thought to be affecting the ideas around child obesity; also adverts for unhealthy food are being blamed for the increase in child obesity (Carvel, 2003). It had been established beyond reasonable doubt that advertising of unhealthy products influences what children not only eat and drink but also the brands they prefer. Boyce, (2007) agrees that advertising is widely seen to encourage unhealthy consumption, particularly with children, as food is the most frequently advertised product on children’s TV. Coon and Tucker (2002) conducted a literature review into journal articles and concluded based on their findings that children exposed to advertising were significantly more likely to opt for advertised food products than those not exposed. Ofcom (2004) provided research also to suggest that there is a direct link to children’s food choices and advertisement.

The report written by Barclay (2011) expresses clearly the government’s stance, which indicates that they strongly agree junk food adverts encourage children’s ill health. From July 2007 such adverts were not restricted but totally banned from children’s TV by Ofcom, in what one would presume

Child molestation is a sexual crime that has not always been an open topic of discussion for many families, religious groups, and communities. Over the years, many people have been unwilling to speak of such a silent monster, and child molesters have been able to escape years of ridicule and shame through the force of intimidation and threats on their young victims. In addition, there are many reasons people believe that child molesters offend young children, but there is no scapegoat that conceals the fact that this sexual crime has destroyed both the esteem and hope of numerous children. With an increase of children finally gaining the courage to speak of their encounters with child molestation, and the startling findings of who their perpetrators can actually be, the silent monster is being surfaced. Its sufferers are surprisingly found to be from a variety of races, religious groups, and social classes. In order to prevent child molestation from occurring in families, religious groups, and communities of our society, it is important to understand the facts and statistics, discover ways for the victim to experience freedom of this dreadful experience using his/her voice, and to prevent cases of child molestation from continuing to be one of the silent monsters of the 21st century.

Sexual crimes range from an array of offenses, but one that appears to be quite common in families, religious groups, and communities of the United States today is child molestation. Child molestation, which is also known in psychiatric terms as pedophilia, is a crime that involves indecent sexual relations between an adult and a child. Of all things, it definitely should be considered a silent monster of the times, because it causes a great deal of fear and pain in the minds and hearts of its victims which can linger throughout their lives. Several young victims do not find the courage or strength to speak about their offenders; the offenders are often those who are respected members of their families, religious groups, or communities. In an attempt to protect the child molester, the juvenile victim may wait for years to thrash out about the atrocious and humiliating experiences of their sexual experiences with his/her offender. Unfortunately, the silence continues for years and some gain the courage to expose the ghastly nature of their sexual offender while others may believe that a discussion of the molestation will create even more pain and shame.

Understanding the Facts

To make an effort to understand the severity of such an awful sexual crime, it is important to understand the facts. According to the Child Molestation Research and Prevention Institute (2010), “It is estimated that at least two out of every ten girls and one out of every ten boys are sexually abused by the end of their 13th year.” With this startling information, it is vital that adults find as many opportunities to speak with their children at an early age, to strongly monitor the adults that their children interact with on a daily basis, and to inform the child that this issue is very much prevalent in today’s time and world. According to National Child Abuse Statistics (2010), “90% of child sexual abuse victims know the perpetrator in some way; 68% are abused by family members” (“National Child Abuse Statistics,” 2010). Adults must make children aware of the fact that a child molester can be a member of even their close circle of family and friends. Often, children that are victims of child molestation are fearful of reporting information, because their offender is a relative or person of a respected position in the church or community. Therefore, adults must continuously emphasize that the ‘silent monster’ can appear from places a child may least expect. In addition, “About 30% of abused and neglected children will later abuse their own children, continuing the horrible cycle of abuse” (“National Child Abuse Statistics,” 2010). So, the possibility of the cycle of child molestation continuing over family generations can likely increase if the molested child does not reveal how he or she was sexually offended. Repression of this appalling crime can later cause other innocent children to fall victim to child molestation.

Possible Causes of Child Molestation

Many people question how an adult could possibly allow themselves to offend a young, vulnerable child through forceful, sexual acts. Moreover, society often perceives the child molester as a ‘monster’ or a person who is greatly sickened both mentally and emotionally. Without surprise, the stigma of ‘child molester’ on an adult can remain with them for a lifetime despite the fact that he/she may have chosen to transform their ways. When an adult is exposed as a child molester, their lives can become absolute turmoil. For example, some may often hear stories of child molesters that have been harassed greatly in federal prisons after they have received their sentences as punishment by the judicial system. Although there are many other horrendous crimes, even those that are imprisoned for extreme offenses consider the child molester to be one of the greatest criminals.

According to Fuller (1998), some of the few causes for molestation include, “heightened arousal to children, early childhood experience, hormone imbalance, sexual anxiety, unresolved conflicts, child pornography and advertising, sexual addiction, alcohol and drugs, and cultural tolerance.” Although there are many potential causes for child molestation, there is no apparent justification for adults that delve into this are of sexual crime. Several adults from many ethnic backgrounds, religions, and social classes have come forth in some cases to speak of their experiences as victims of child molestation. Both common and famous people reveal to the world everyday stories of the evils of child molestation and the memories that still remain in their minds and hearts, and their beliefs and reasoning for the child sexual abuse often stem from one of the above causes of child molestation.

Child Molestation in the Church World

Allegations of cases of child molestation in the church have increased drastically over the past years. Although the Catholic Church seems to be one that has been in the media for some time now with accusations of clergy taking sexual advantage of young boys, it is obvious that the topic of child molestation in the church reaches far beyond the Catholic Church.

Recently, there have been accusations in the media of adults coming forth and discussing how they were sexually molested as children by their spiritual leaders. As Clowes and Sonnier (2005) state, “The church has always had a small number of priests and other religious who have taken advantage of their positions of authority and influence in order to gain sexual favors or to take advantage of the helpless.” As a result, child molestation becomes widespread in many churches, because the young victims are either intimidated by the role of the clergy member that is abusing them or they begin to fear the demise of the level of respect the members of the church have for the person that has violated them sexually.

Since many of the religious leaders in the church are predominantly men, the topic of homosexuality, as it relates to child molestation, arises. Most of the victims that experience child molestation by clergy are young males. Henceforth, it is apparent that those religious leaders that partake in child molestation are dealing with issues of homosexuality as well. It has been found that, “In fact, a number of studies performed over a period spanning more than half a century—many of which were performed by homosexuals or their sympathizers-have shown that an extremely large percentage of sexually active homosexuals also participate in child molestation” (Clowes & Sonnier, 2005). Some of the young males that have experienced child molestation by esteemed clergy members of the church also often question their sexual orientation as time passes, because they are being molested by a member of the same sex.

Targeting the Signs of Child Molestation

Many children that are victims of child molestation often display signs to adults that are not recognized or even ignored. If the signs are acknowledged early on, adults can go forward to try to bring criminal charges to the sexual offender and bring some sense of peace and relief to the young child that is being sexually abused. There are some signs that are not made evident immediately while there are others that adults can pinpoint very early.

Some signs that adults need to become aware of are many. According to Williams (2001), a few of the warning signs of child sexual abuse are:

extreme mood swings

excessive crying/nightmares

bed-wetting

acting out inappropriate sexual activity

school or behavioral problems

bruises, rashes, cuts, limping, multiple or poorly explained injuries

Although these warning signs can also be related to other behaviors, these should serve as things that adults should continuously be aware of. A child’s behavior, once they have been sexually abused, can reveal a great deal of what stage they are in the sexual indecent acts done by their sexual offenders. The key to prevention is to find the willingness to accept and be proactive towards the warning signs. This could be the difference between saving a child’s life or having the sexual crime continue.

Ways to Prevent Child Molestation

Child molestation is a sexual crime that many families, churches, and communities desire would not come to their doors. For those that are severely affected by child molestation, they may suffer their entire lifetimes with scars from the indecent sexual experiences with their adult offenders. Even though child molestation is a devastating problem and issue for all of those involved, there are ways to prevent child molestation.

It is strongly encouraged that adults create avenues for children to speak openly about fears they may have of being sexually abused or to discuss encounters they may have already experienced as a victim of child molestation. According to”Why Should Kids Tell?” (2008):

Perhaps the greatest defense against childhood sexual abuse is to help both children and adults become more comfortable discussing it. We can bring about a paradigm shift so that children will not think twice about confiding sexual abuse to an adult in their life who they trust. If we encourage enough children to tell, and teach enough adults what to do, we can change the repetitive cycle of childhood sexual abuse: studies show that 87% of all sexual abusers were themselves sexually abused as children.

In addition, there are other preventive measures that adults can take to ensure that their children are safe from the harm of child molestation. According to the child molestation prevention organization Darkness to Light (2008) some ways to prevent this sexual crime is to learn the facts, minimize opportunity, talk about it, stay alert, make a plan, act on suspicions, and get involved.

Child molestation is definitely a problem of today’s times. It is a sexual crime that must be actively approached in order to prevent children’s lives from being destroyed. The predators of this crime can be a close family member, an elite church representative of the clergy, a coach for a sports team, etc. Nevertheless, adults must be cautious of all other adults no matter whom they are or where they are from. Victims of child molestation can be any race, come from any social class, and even be male or female. The statistics show that this is an ever-increasing problem, but the measures for prevention do offer a sense of hope for those that are wronged by the sexual crime of child molestation. All in all, it is one a ‘silent monster’, and it will continue to be until children find the courage to speak out against their adult offenders along with adults discovering the strength to address the situation proactively no matter how much pain may surface before a resolution is provided. Sexual crimes are common to many in the United States, along with other parts of the world, but there is the opportunity to bring justice to those that choose to destroy the dignity of all those aggrieved—one being the precious, young children of the world who have the right to have their innocence and childhood protected.

Now days, the complex and universal problem of child labor have become a “harsh reality” attracting worldwide attention. The prevalence of child labour is economically unsound, psychologically disastrous and physically as well as morally dangerous. No doubt, labour is worship but child labour in dangerous and a blot on the conscience of society. It is a sad affair that child labour is deprived of his youthful life, education and thus prospects of higher level of living. Child labour perpetuates poverty, it does not reduce it as it condemns one generation after another to its vicious circle. Child labour harms the progress and prosperity of a nation. Throwing light on this fact, John has rightly said, “Starve a child of food, of affection, of freedom, of education and you produce an adult who is stunted as an individual and holds back progress and development rather than accelerate it”.

Our country is also facing this critical problem of child labor. A wide variation is seen in the estimation of child labor in country. According to 1971, 1981 and 1991 census of India, the number of working children accounted for 10.74 million, 13.60 million and 11.28 million respectively. The ORG has estimated that the number of child labor is closer to 44 million. According to U.N., 55% of the work force in India is made up of child labor. It is normally seen that employers do not always provide accurate data on child labor in order to safeguard themselves from legal hassles. It was pointed out in the World Conference on Children that the number of child labor in the world is about 25 crore, out of which the maximum number about 10 crore is found in India alone. It is estimated that about 7.5 crore are engaged in rural areas while remaining 2.5 crore are employed in urban areas. Alarmed at this critical problem, ILO has also estimated that India alone accounts for one fourth of total child labor of the world.

Childlabor is rampant across the country. Children can be seen working in agricultural fields, carpet and durri industries, biri, handicraft, match box, glass and bangle industries, in restaurants and as domestic servants. It is estimated that 30 per cent of child labor is engaged in agriculture and allied activities, 30 to 35 percent in industries and remaining are engaged in mining, tea gardens and hotels etc. These occupations are hazardous, causing severe physical damage to them and thus inhibiting their mental, moral and social development. These child laborers become prey to many fatal diseases, like T.B., Cancer, Asthma, lungs and skin related diseases. The sad plight of child labor is depicted by Sudha and Tiwari in these words,”It is really sad to note that children in most of the developing countries are living miserable, cheerless lives, toiling unendlessly to ward off starvation, totally deprived of all comforts and opportunities for self growth and development.”

Poverty, unemployment, traditional attitude, marginalization of farms, urbanization, lack of schools, reluctance of parents to send their children to schools are the factors responsible for the problem of child labour. In fact, poverty is seen as the major factor responsible for this problem. Poor parents hardly have time for their children because they are all the time struggling for bread and butter. They are not in a position to fulfill their responsibilities towards children. In reality, the children are supposed to be the extra earning hands, rather than extra mouths to feed. Children are made to work at a very young age. Emphasizing this factor, the report of the Committee on Child Labor commented, “Stronger than tradition is the factor of chronic poverty responsible for the prevalence and perpetuation of child labor”.

In poor families, the child, since his very appearance in this world, is endowed with an economic mission.The child is compelled to shed sweat of brow “to keep the wolf away from the door”. Large sized families are also held responsible for this problem. Again, most of the workers are engaged in non organized sector. The inadequacy of wages in this sector compels these workers to send their children on work to supplement their income. Availability of child labor at lower wages also motivates the employers to employ them. The employment of the child labor not only reduces the cost of production but also provides access to that labor which is unresisting and unorganized. As a result of this trend, the wages of other adult workers decline, adult unemployment increases and that paves way for the poverty. Nurse’s vicious circle of poverty explains the phenomenon of child labor clearly. Thus, child labor is an exploitation of child by the vested interests. On the one side, there is compulsion of poor parents and on the other side; the unresponsive attitude of specific industries is also responsible for this problem. The situation of child laborers in India is desperate. Children work for eight hours at a stretch with only a small break for meals. The meals are also frugal and the children are ill nourished. Most of the migrant children, who cannot go home, sleep at their work place, which is very bad for their health and development. Seventy five percent of Indian population still resides in rural areas and are very poor.

Children in rural families who are ailing with poverty perceive their children as an income generating resource to supplement the family income. Parents sacrifice their children’s education to fulfill the basic needs of their younger siblings and view them as wage earners for the entire family. Irrelevance of education in practical life is also considered an important factor for this problem. It is rightly pointed out, “A secondary reason for child labor is that many children choose to work because neither they nor their poverty stricken families see the point of acquiring an education which has little relevance to their lives and which moreover does not guarantee them a job. They prepare to undergo some kind of apprenticeship so that they can learn a skill and earn money at the same time”. These children are deprived of their childhood. The prospects of getting good education and good jobs become a distant dream for them. Thus, the parents, society and the state are responsible for this criminal injustice with the future citizens.

Children are flowers of our national garden they should be nurtured with love and affection so that; they grow into responsible and responsive citizens. Child labour has important demographic and social-economic implications for developing countries like India. Many provisions have been made in the constitution of the country to promote the welfare and development of children. Under Article 29 of the constitution, no child below the age of 14 can be deployed in any hazardous work. Article 23 prohibits forced labour. The chapter IV of theIndian constitution mentions specific directions related to the welfare of children. In Article 39, it is made obligatory for the states to formulate polices in such a way so that the healthy development of children can be ensured.

To safeguard the interests of these deprived children, various laws have been enacted in the country. Many legislations have been passed to prevent the employment of children in hazardous occupations and to improve their working conditions. Many policies have also been formulated for the healthy and balanced development of children. In the same way, there are important legislations which provide legal protection to child labour in India. Some of them are following:

1. Child (Pledging of labour). Act (Government of India, 1933)

2. The Employment of Children Act (Government of India, 1938)

3. The Minimum wages Act, 1948

4. The factories Act, 1948

5. The Plantation Labour Act, 1951

6. The Mines Act, 1952

7. The Merchant Shipping Act, 1958

8. The Motor Transport Workers Act, 1961

9. The Apprentices Act, 1961

10. The Bedi and Cigar Workers Act, 1966

11. State Shops and Establishment Acts,

12. According to the National Policy for children, 1974, no child under 14 years can be

engaged in any hazardous occupation. It is also laid down in the policy that children

should be protected against neglect, cruelty and exploitation. Again, the Child Labour

(Prohibition and Regulation) Act was initialed in 1986 to ban children’s employment in

70 hazardous occupations. National Child Labour Project (NCLP) was also launched by

Labour Ministry in 1988 to rehabilitate working children. In Oct, 2006, the Government has passed legislation to ban the employment of children below 14 years in restaurants, hotels, tea-stalls, eateries and as domestic laborers.

India has also become a signatory to various international declarations and agreements to regulate the menace of child labour. So, it has become obligatory for the country to undertake the measures to eliminate the scourge of child labour which has assumed serious proportions in recent years. Many policies have been formulated for the healthy and balanced development of children. The Government has launched Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Mid Day Meal Scheme, Education Guarantee programme etc to bring the child labour under the umbrella of education. Non Governmental Organizations were also permitted to open residential schools for these children to bring them back to the mainstream of the society. Residential and special schools have also been setup for the education of child labor. In 2006 the Government has introduced Integrated Child Development services aimed at providing a package of services consisting of supplementary nutrition, immunization, health check up and education and non-formal education.

In spite of adoption and implementation of various policies, laws and programmes by the government directly or indirectly, the problem of child labor is still staring at us. Due to ignorance, illiteracy and economic compulsions of the poor families, these laws are evaded at different places at different points of time. Weak enforcement machinery, little information related to child labor laws and peculiar socio-economic conditions are also the factors responsible for the avoidance of laws related to children. To check the problem of child labour, it is essential to eradicate the menace of poverty by improving agriculture sector, providing employment to unemployed hands at minimum wages, establishing agro-processing units in rural areas.

Stringent measures should also be taken to make employment generation and poverty eradication plans effective and successful and corruption free. In the same way, population control measures and other medical facilities must be provided to the poor section of the country. Adequate school facilities, provision of night schools, improvement in school environment and curricula of education can also contribute a lot in solving this critical problem. National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) should also ensure that rescued child labourers do not return to work. So every effort must be made for the repatriation of rescued child labourers to their native places.

Poverty, unemployment and illiteracy are the prime reasons responsible for this problem. So efforts must be made to eradicate these causes. Monetary incentives and income generating assets must be provided to poor families so that they are not compelled to send their children to work. It is essential to compensate the families of those children who are being withdrawn from work force. A strong socio-political environment must be achieved with the active cooperation of people, society, and non government organization. NGOs must motivate the parents to provide education, health care and skill development facilities to their children. Special schools may be set up for the child labor so they can acquire minimum qualifications. In the same way, specific strategies must be evolved keeping in mind the nature of work in which the child is currently engaged. Thus, a joint effort of government, NGOs and society is required to solve this critical problem. We should try to strike at the root cause of this critical problem. Efforts should be made to change the attitude and mindset of the people towards their children.

We should never forget that today’s children are tomorrow’s citizen. If this critical problem is not tackled urgently, we can well imagine the future of our country in the days to come.

1

This report proposes to examine the key effects, elements and issues surrounding child labour in relation to the global economy. Through their thorough and convincing research, the authors, Eric .V.Edmonds and Nina Pavcnik (2005) estimate the number of economically active children between the ages of 5-14 years and claim that parental poverty is its main cause. However, they are hesitant to endorse the widely held belief that international policies are the solution to this global crisis; rather they suggest more domestic measures to limit it, such as affordable education and more job stimulation. They also argue that contrary to popular perception most working children engage in domestic/market work rather than in manufacturing establishments.

Introduction

The term Child Labour is a widespread phenomenon often equated to child abuse. In Eric’s footnote on ‘What is Child Labour?’ He states the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) definition of child labour which is”… defines an economically active child as a child labourer if she is under 12 and economically active for one or more hours per week, 12-14 and working more than 14hours per week or one or more hours per week in activities that are ‘hazardous by nature or circumstance’ and if she is 15-17 and works in ‘unconditional work forms of child labour’ (trafficked children, children in bondage or forced labour, armed conflict, prostitution, pornography, illicit activities)”(ILO 2002, cited in Edmonds and Pavcnik 2005; pp.200).

Edmonds asserts however that these forms of child labour are rare. He insists stating that children engage in activities which could either be harmful or beneficial depending on the type of activity and also the impact on the child should depend on what the child would be doing if not working (the child’s alternative foregone). Household Survey evidence by the ILO’s Statistical information and monitoring program on child labour (SIMPOC) also defines child labour as “A child is defined as economically active if he or she works for wages (cash or in-kind); works in the family farm in the production and processing of primary products; works in family enterprises that are making primary products for the market, barter or own consumption; or is unemployed and looking for these types of work (ILO 2002,cited in Edmonds and Pavcnik 2005; pp.201). This is a more practical definition taking into account that most children work at home for their families; either on the farm or domestically.

The rare hazardous forms of labour stated in the ILO’s definition are difficult to make out in household surveys which the SIMPOC are based on thus specialized surveys are conducted by the ILO and other concerned organizations. As a result of these surveys, the ILO’s SIMPOC (2002) estimates 8.4 million children engage in ‘unconditional work forms of child labour’ and of these, 68 percent are in bonded or forced labour (forms of slavery). According to Edmond and Pavncik most child labourers are employed by their parents to work on the farm or domestically which goes against the widely held view that children work mainly in manufacturing establishments and other forms of employment. They argue that children also face risks in the simplest forms of labour as they get older, for example agriculture, due to exposure to toxic chemicals, harsh weather conditions, animals/parasites. Ashagrie (1997) agrees with this point stating that “the self reported injury rate from child labour surveys of children working in agriculture is actually higher at 2 percent than the 9 percent level reported in manufacturing. (Ashagrie 1997 cited in Edmonds and Pavcnik 2005; pp.208)

Edmonds and Pavncik’s article posits an open research question as to whether the reasons children engage in these hazardous working conditions differs from the driving force of children working on their family businesses or domestic work.

Literature review.

Child labour in the global economy is estimated at 211million, ILO (2002), which accounts for 18 % of children, aged 5-14 worldwide. Of these, 60 % are in Asia and 23 % in sub Saharan Africa. Although Asia has a greater percentage of child labours Africa has a higher participation rate estimated at 30%. SIMPOC also estimates that 4 % of children work in transition economies (i.e. countries undergoing economic liberalization) and 2% in developed countries.

The United Nations children’s educational fund (UNICEF) conducted three surveys in thirty-six less developed countries in 2000 and 2001 providing information on the participation rates in both domestic and market work for 124 million children. The first survey helps buttress Edmond and Pavcnik’s point on child workers engaging mainly in domestic/ market work rather than manufacturing establishments.

Participation rates in various activities for 124million children 5-14 from 36 countries in 2000.
All children
5-14
Age
5-9 10-14
Gender
Male Female
Location
Urban Rural
Market work (MAR)

25.0

15.3 35.2

26.6 23.3

18.9 30.5

Paid

2.4

1.0 4.0

2.8 2.0

2.2 2.5

unpaid

5.8

4.4 7.3

5.6 5.9

4.0 7.3

family

20.8

12.4 29.7

22.4 19.1

14.8 26.2

Domestic work (DOM)

64.6

50.8 79.2

59.3 69.9

60.7 67.4

Any work (MAR + DOM)

68.4

53.5 84.3

64.8 72.1

64.1 71.7

20 or more hours per week

20.7

10.3 31.8

19.4 22.1

14.1 26.4

40 or more hours per week

6.4

2.7 10.3

6.1 6.7

3.6 8.8

UNICEF End of Decade Assessment microdata, (2000). See Edmonds and Pavcnik (2005, JEP).

From the table above it is evident that less than 3% of children work outside the household for pay and this is mainly the case in rural settlements rather than urban where manufacturing activities are dominant. Approximately 6% participate in unpaid work. Edmonds and Pavcnik interpret these unpaid children as those children who help their neighbours in the farm or business or could also be children receiving in-kind payments (food) as well as children who are indebted to their employees by their parents. However in contrast to this, 20.8% of children work in family businesses and of this figure, 26.2% are in rural areas and 14.8% in urban. The authors further research shows that there is an agreement with this UNICEF survey from other available data from countries like Nepal, South Africa, Vietnam, India as well as Bangladesh where child labour in its garment industry also had a figure of 1.2% unpaid children age 5-14 as cited in a 2002 child labour survey. According to the table approximately 65% of children work domestically and 68% work in both market and domestic work. There is a high participation rate pattern by older female children age 10-14 in rural areas. The table also shows that they tend to work longer hours than males. This is probably due to cultural domestic values. Agriculture takes the largest part of the employment sector in countries (e.g. Kenya 77% In 1998, Guatemala 63 %in 2000, Ethiopia 89% in 2001 etc) followed closely by domestic work and then manufacturing which is only a percentage of economically active children. Figures from the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) 2004 (FOA 2004 cited in Edmonds and Pavcnik 2005)match with this indicating that most adults work in agriculture and since most children work with their parents they also work in agriculture.

There is a trade off between work and school for child labourers. Most working children attend school and the UNICEF estimates in its second survey the total hours of work in relation to different types of work as well as school attendance. The data shows that on average, children spend 26 hours on market work weekly. Children that work for their families and are unpaid spend 27hours weekly. Paid employment takes up more hours in a week and by older children. Children that take part in domestic work spend 16 hours per week .Edmonds and Pavcnik further stated that these figures should not imply that domestic work is insignificant because on average, majority of the hours spent on market work is indeed domestic work. However children that attend school spend less hours working than those who do not attend school.

The third survey below by the UNICEF reports the school attendance of children aged 5-14. From the table we observe that approximately 70% of children in that age range attend school and this attendance is mainly in favour of older male boys, in urban areas. School attendance conditional on work status accounts for 74%. There is a 14% likelihood that children who do not work do not attend school but this is reflected mainly in younger children. Less than 5 % of the 30% of children that do not attend school work in market work only and we see that domestic work is more popular in this

case as 32% of the 30% participate in it alone. Thus Edmonds states that in ignoring this figure of domestic work researchers would lose out on one of the segments of children not attending school.

A large fraction of children, 42%, well known as ‘idle’ attend neither school nor work

Work and schooling status for 124million children 5-14 from 36 countries in 2000
All children
5-14
Age
5-9 10-14
Gender
Male female
Location
Urban rural
Attend school

69.5

58.9 80.8

70.768.3

75.1 63.9

Attendance rates conditional
Any work
Not work

73.9

60.0

64.1 80.6

52.9 82.2

75.7 72.3

61.6 57.8

80.1 68.3

64.9 52.8

Conditional on nonattendance
Domestic only
Market only

32.0

4.5

30.8 34.9

2.8 8.3

27.1 36.6

6.3 2.7

31.8 32.0

4.9 4.3

Both market and domestic
Not work

22.0

41.5

13.1 42.2

53.3 14.6

20.3 23.5

46.2 37.1

12.8 26.6

50.6 37.1

UNICEF Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey End of Decade Assessment microdata.(2002)

Child labourers face consequences on schooling attainment because time spent working gives less time for extracurricular activities and might weaken their school performance. Orazem and Gunnarsson (2004) find that “third and fourth graders who attend school but never work in market or domestic work perform 28 % better on mathematics tests and 19% better on language tests than children who attend school and work”. Empirical evidence of this is given in an example by Beegle, Dehejia and Gatti (2004) wherein after five years of working and schooling they examined the status of young adults in Vietnam. They observed that a one standard deviation increase in the hours worked by children attending school is equated to a 35% decrease in educational attainment. Edmonds and Pavcnik however are of the school of thought that this negative correlation between working and grade advancement might reflect that low performing students engage in work rather than that work generates low-performing students.

Parents send their children to work not by choice but as a result of economic necessity thus Child labour is caused fundamentally by poverty and as far back as data show, there have been several policies proposed with the aim of fighting against child labour worldwide. Have these legislative acts helped solve the problem of child labour? To answer this question Edmonds and Pavncik give two examples, firstly the US Congress enacted laws prohibiting the importation of goods made by children and as a result of these sanctions, Bangladesh was said to have released over 10,000 paid child workers below the age of 14 from its garment industry in the mid 1900’s. Evidently this is not drastic as the figures are a tenth of the percentage of child workers in Bangladesh. Furthermore Moehling (1999) finds little evidence that minimum wage laws in manufacturing sectors put into practice between the years 1880 and 1910 contributed to the decline in child labour during this period. In addition, the authors state that more recent studies show that the US House of Representatives have discussed the “Child labour elimination act” which would enforce punitive measures, alter financial support, and order US oppositions from multilateral development banks to 62 developing countries affected by child labour.

Edmonds and Pavcnik argue that although these policies might help reduce child labour, they are not guaranteed to be successful in less developed nations where they are targeted at for these reasons enumerated in their article:

Lack of available resources to implement policies (i.e. bans) mainly in cases where the children engage in market work for their parents wherein the end product contributes to the family income.

Child labour policies are seen as a case of multiple equilibrium, Basu and Van (1998), whereby children that work at low wages are at one equilibrium and increased adult wages when children do not work are at another therefore defeating the purpose of the ban. Moreover according to Basu’s example (2003), if firms are fined for child labour, the cost of the fine increases the demand for cheap child labour as opposed to high earning adult workers in order to make more profit to offset the fine which in turn makes child labour necessary.

Children that are prohibited from working legitimately might move into more hazardous forms of child labour or non exporting sectors of the economy such as prostitution however there is no scientific evidence of this.

Since Poverty is the main cause of child labor it would be logical to combat child labor by

A) Improving the standard of living of families i.e. increasing adult income which in turn does the following

Diminishes the marginal utility of income which decreases the value of marginal contribution because as more income comes into the family form parents it eliminates the satisfaction derived from the income contribution of the child.

Brings about the purchase of alternatives used in place of child labour (e.g. washing machines)

Increases a child’s productive level in schooling (human capital) because the family is now able to afford necessary materials (e.g. textbooks)

B) Encouraging credit markets to give loans to poor households is another suggestive method because child labor has been said to be a result of credit market imperfections. Baland and Robinson 2000; Ranjan, 2001 agree with this stating “Several theoretical studies emphasize that if credit markets allowed households to borrow against future earnings child labor could be much reduced”

C) Providing affordable education because parents would be willing to contribute to improve their children’s long run chances yet, are however left with no choice but to send their children to work due to the perceived returns to schooling. Policies have been adopted to reduce chid labour through educational subsidies. An example of such is the Progresa program in Mexico which is predominately used in many countries worldwide. It gives parents an incentive to keep their child in school. Parents are paid if the school certifies that the child has been attending school regularly. Thus it is a demand approach aimed at reducing the cost of schooling, which varies with age of the child, and increasing family income.

Conclusively relying on laws and their enforcement as discussed previously, is a necessary but unsatisfactory solution to child labour. Overall, economic development interventions relevant to the underlying cause are more effective policy tools to reduce the incidence of child labour.