We're all Special Now

News that up to a fifth of children meant to have Special Educational Needs have been wrongly diagnosed should not come as a shock. The SEN industry has been expanding like mad - or like alternatively sane - to the point where even the little quirks of character that make us who we are are pathologised, labelled and - here's the nub, budgeted for. Children I know who fidget in their seats are 'dyspraxic'. The parents may be relieved by the 'diagnosis', the schools doubtless relish the extra cash. But the kids themselves aren't always quite so pleased.

When I was a child, I had classmates with all sorts of oddities. Some were good at maths and nothing else. Others only liked drawing, or rocked in their chairs when concentrating. There were even boys who didn't like sport. How ironic it is that forty years ago, before the supposed age of reason, the range of what passed for Normal was so much wider.

Television Kills- or does it?

New research claims to have proved that television gives children cardio-vascular disease later in life.

Evidently, those who make a career out of piling the guilt onto hard pressed parents want us to know that when we press On we are hastening the premature deaths of our children. While we await actual scientific proof - I'm not holding my breath here - I'll throw in this possibility for anyone who may be a television viewer but also likes to use their brain:

Kids who watch a lot of TV may be missing out on more active pursuits; when you're sitting you're not kicking a ball or running. So it might not be evil rays coming out of the box after all. Just a thought.