Buzz!

The Awful Truth about Social Programs

The controversial Margaret Wente gets it right in her Saturday Globe column.  "The evidence to date - such as it is - suggests that many, perhaps most, social programs do not make a difference, except to the legions of administrators and social workers who are directly and indirectly employed in delivering them". Read article (please). 

German Children Get Their Own Newspaper

Newspapers may be dying out elsewhere, but in Germany broadsheets still enjoy substantial readership.  A new publication has decided to invest in keeping it that way, targeting children to cultivate the readers of tomorrow.  But it's a difficult market that requires pleasing both kids and their parents.

UN slams Canada's Excessively Punitive Justice Plan, Accuses Authorities of Widespread  Discrimination.  

The federal government's tough-on-crime agenda is "excessively punitive" for youth and is a step backwards for Canada's child rights record, says a United Nations group.  The UN committee on the rights of the child has finished a 10 year review of how Canada treats its children and how well governments are implementing the Convention on the Rights of the Child.  Read More.

With Reference to Amanda Todd

The Canadian Centre for Child Protection has received 3 000 complaints in the past five years from British Columbians regarding the online sexual exploitation of children.  "These complaints have come from parents or children themselves - about fiver per cent of complaints are from children," said Signy Arnason, director of Cybertip.ca which is operated by the Winnipeg-based Canadian Centre for Children.  Read More. 

Sneezing Twins

Babies mimicking Dad.  Very cute!

'Striking Mom' Jessica Stillwell of Alberta Drawing International Media Attention From Her Blog

Jessica Stillwell, a busy Calgary mom, was tired of cleaning up after three daughters.  So she threw in the towel.  She stopped playing maid for her children, twins aged 12 and a 10-year-old. and did what any disgruntled worker might do. "I went on strike," she said in an interview this past week.

Does Living in a Nicer Neighbourhood Affect the Mental Health of At-Risk Youth?

When it comes to nature versus nurture, researchers are betting on nurture in regards to whether moving children from high to low poverty neighbourhoods positively affects mental health.