Learned Helplessness
When young, circus elephants are attached by heavy chains to large stakes driven deep into the ground. They pull and yank, but the chain is too strong, the stake too rooted. One day they give up, having learned that they cannot pull free, and from that day forward they can be "chained" with a slender rope. When this enormous animal feels any resistance, though it has the strength to pull the whole circus tent over, it stops trying. Because it believes it cannot. "You will never amount to anything. You cannot sing. You are not smart enough. You are a loser. You should have more realistic goals. You are the reason our marriage broke up. Without you kids I would have had a chance. You are worthless." This opera is being sung in homes all over America right now, the stakes driven into the ground, the heavy chains attached, the children reaching the point they believe they cannot pull free. And at that point, they cannot. Unless and until something changes their view, unless they grasp the striking fact that they are tied with a thread, that the chain is an illusion, that they were fooled, and ultimately, that whoever so fooled them was wrong about them and that they were wrong about themselves -- unless all this happens, these children are not likely to show society their positive attributes as adults.
http://www.noogenesis.com/malama/discouragement/helplessness/circus_elephants.html
Tough love against bullying
A father marched his two children to a police station to have them charged with assault after catching them attacking another teen. The father was so enraged with his kids that he sold his 17-year-old son's car and 15-year-old daughter's horse as further punishment. The pair admitted to picking on their bullying victim because he wore glasses, the same reason their father said he was bullied as a child. The father said following the assault, which left the victim with a broken jaw, his two children would face court next month.
http://www.qt.com.au/story/2011/03/18/ipswich-dad-turns-in-kids-bullying-crime/
Dear Parents
Dear parents,Jasmine was in a relationship with a dirty homeless boy named Aladdin. Snow White lived alone with seven men. Pinocchio was a liar. Robin Hood was a thief. Tarzan walked around with no clothes on. A stranger kissed Sleeping Beauty and she married him. Cinderella lied and snuck out at night to attend a party. Sincerely, it's not our fault, it's how you raised us.
http://everink.tumblr.com/post/2841578517/dear-parents
Delivery device for nicotine
(download)
At just the tender age of two, Ardi Rizal's health has been so ruined by his habit of smoking 40 cigarettes a day that he now struggles to move by himself. The four-stone toddler's condition is set to rapidly deteriorate. Ardi, who is rarely seen without a cigarette, insists on the same brand, which costs his parents £3.78 a day. Local officials offered to buy the family a new car if the boy quits, but Ardi's parents feel unable to stop him because he throws massive tantrums if they do not indulge him. "He is totally addicted. If he does not get cigarettes, he gets angry and screams and batters his head against the wall," Ardi's mother wept. Ardi's youth is the extreme of a disturbing trend. Data from the Central Statistics Agency showed 25% of Indonesian children aged three to 15 have tried cigarettes, with 3.2% of those active smokers. The percentage of five to nine year olds lighting up increased from 0.4% in 2001 to 2.8% in 2004, the agency reported. Child advocates are speaking out about the health damage to children from second-hand smoke and the pressure to smoke. One-third of Indonesians smoke tobacco. Seto Mulyadi, chairman of Indonesia's child protection commission, blames the increase on aggressive advertising and parents who are smokers.
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