enhanced by
Bookmark:
There has always been some of this but the increase is due to poor parenting, PC nanny society and greed personified by advertising giving that we can have every whim satisfied now now
Children should be told no, earn it yourself
Oh yes and school uniforms remove many of the problems, so would a school ban on mobile phones and other gadgets. Let them be handed in at the gate to be returned at teh end of the school day
I guess liberalisation of the UK is coming home to roost.
Poor kids, so already confused and we heap more confusion on them.
Its just a "fashion", back in my day girls with "issues" at school either over ate, starved themselves or more rarely committed suicide.
If self harming had been on the radar they probably would have done that too (or instead).
Anyway I hadn't noticed the "snowdrifts" of teenage corpses lying about that the government seems to be talking about with it's:
"The Government's Choose Life strategy is aiming to reduce suicides to 80per cent by 2013."
I am going to assume that number is wrong.
this is a horrifying and astounding statistic and surely had to be looked at immediatly. I see stories and articles in the media about girls self harming yet no one seems to be addressing the issue.
It is without doubt a symptom of society today and how our children are being brought up. These girls have to be identified and helped, along with their parents who have to play a vital part in helping them recover their self esteem and discuss the issues which are making them self harm.
I am also very surprised there are so few comments on this article. I thought this would have been of great concern to many people. Yet you would find far more people commenting on – for example – Edinburgh’s new transport system than the mental health of young women.
5
That is symptomatic of nanny state-ism. People are now too afraid to voice concerns for fear of reprisal.
One person say: We need to help and cosset these kids
Another will say: Don't be daft, they need discipline and direction.
There no winners, only losers here.
"a symptom of society today" suggests that society is worse than it was "in days of yore".
Thats just not really the case, almost everything is actually better now than it was then.
I include the above subject in that sweeping statement.
In what way is it better in terms of humanity, society and civility?
8
I was hoping someone would "take that bait".
"humanity, society and civility"
Yes its better in all those ways, if you quote one example of how modern society falls down in those areas I can quote you something from even the relatively recent past that would knock your example into a cocked hat.
Its a common misconception brought about by our media and politicians that the world is a worse place today than it was in the past.
Boring stories about things being OK just don't sell papers and politicians don't get quite so much "face time" when no one has anything to worry about.
sorry about the doubling up, the scotsman "flipped out there for a second"
#4 Koffindodger,
So was the young girl misiing for three weeks and found hanging from a tree making a 'fashion' statement, I can but guarantee that she started by self harming.
#1 & #2 Navvy
I agree.
Kids get far too much these days.
The fault lies with parents who won't spend quality time with them and find it easier to give them all sorts of gadgets. These expensive things are no substitute for quality time spent as a family and only lead to the kids expecting more and more.
#5 the Trossachs Hasher
Your second paragraph says it all. Parents have to play a part in helping the kids.
Stories like this only lead to an explosion in the number of social work type non-jobs.
The article doesn't mention the actual number of suicides in Scotland each year. I bet it's not much more than 1 a day. Not a massive problem.
Nonetheless, any suicide is unfortunate and my condolences go out to friends and relatives of the victims.
13 Isabel Sorry I dont agree at all. It has little to do with parenting and more to do with mental health.My eldest daughter self harmed for some years without either my or my wif noticing. The issues that caused this was lack of self esteme and (I am now aware) an abusive relationship. My daughter and I have a wonderfull relationship but she was afraid to tell me of her problems.Frankly many of the above comments show a lack of education in this area. It is NOT a cry for help or a lack of parenting but a serious condition.My daughter has recovered and is now a Psycologist dealing with exactly this kind of patient. It can be transient but can also lead down darker paths. It is a serious condition and should be taken seriously.
I asked a "civil" question Koffindoger, still waiting for a "civil" answer.
#14 Sumas The current rate of suicides in Scotland run at about 2 per week, and yes it is a massive problem. To try to dissmiss this is missing the point. Very few kids who self harm actually commit suicide but commit bigger and more serious injuries to themselves.Suicide is a serious problem within the late teens early twenties agegroup which needs to be tackled head on by central government. All too often we rely on charities (Prenumbra ect) to deal with a massive social problem
Come on Dave From Barra, surely it doesn't take much more than a moment's reflection to realise that the 'Good Old Days' are just a case of rosy tinted spectacles.
Even Biker's 2 suicides a week statistic pales into insignificance compared to the rate of infant mortality 100 or even 50 years ago.
I'm not saying there are no real problems today: on the contrary, there's still a lot of work to be done. But I have no problem with Koffindodger's statement that just about all measurable indicators of quality of life are better now than they were in the recent past. Whinging on about how things used to be so much better is not a positive step forwards I'm afraid.
Biker -
I am sorry about what you had to go through with your daughter and I am sure you went through a lot of soul searching to find out why you were not able to spot the signs earlier.
Rather than criticize some of the contributors, why don’t you consider trying to help other parents who are concerned about their daughter and see if you can help them spot the symptoms before it is too late.
Maybe you can prevent this happening to other families.
12. Pickleskin 25
Gruesome example but what you have just said is that a girl committed suicide and was not discovered for three weeks.
Whats your point?
Also as for you guaranteeing she self harmed before that, are you saying all suicidal teens self harm? Or that all self harming teens are suicidal?
16. Dave From Barra
Didn't I answer your question?
