Posts Tagged ‘kids research’

Beware On-line for Kids; or Not, That is the question! oh, and is it ethical to research them in the ether?

Last week I attended an interesting Market Research Society conference entitled Children – seen & heard . It was a mix of fact and opinion and about the children’s world, how it can be researched and some research results. I really enjoyed the first half and sure I would have enjoyed the second but alas I had to leave at lunchtime due to the dual pressure of having to attend Toy Fair.

So what did I learn? Lots, because when learned speakers give up their time you are always destined to learn something and in this case I got that kids love on-line (we knew that) and that they are spending more time on-line (we knew that too) and furthermore that adult brands such as the BBC take their roles very seriously in making on-line as safe as possible for kids (we may not know this, but we have every right to expect it!). So you could say “nothing new here” ; but you’d be wrong to assume that.

I learned, or should I arrogantly say: “had confirmed”, that kids are the same now as they always were; they grow up at the same pace and they develop just as we did, with the same desires and feelings. The only difference is that the kids of today have different tools by which they can express themselves and the on-line landscape is just one of those in addition to what we had in TV and books, and comics and radio!

Marc Goodchild the digital kids guru at the BBC made a very interesting point – that the UK press is quick to perceive a child’s time spent on the computer to be a bad thing; but he also pointed out that most young children use the Internet to read about stuff and to get information as well as the major reason which is to play games. Marc then showed us a press headline which praised books as being fantastic for children because reading broadens the mind, ergo reading on the Internet should also be seen in a positive light!

What is startling is the pace of change and how children are adapting to their communicative environment and taking it on with gusto. It is as if they are saying that we have the same right to our own on-line community as adults do; and of course they do, who are we to do one thing and then deprive our children of the very same thing?
We must of course be vigilant, adults should act to protect children and to act with honesty and integrity when dealing on-line just as we would expect in “real life” and the conference made very valid points as to how we should be behaving when researching the digital space. The ethics still apply and we should still be aware of the data protection act and the need for parental permission when collecting data from minors.

Which brings me on to a key issue. Many speakers mentioned this: the fact that many teens on-line lie about their age, pretend they have parental permission and prevent their parents from seeing what they do whilst on the Internet. The children themselves are leaving themselves open and parents will know little about it and they are doing it because they want to play in the adult space, to join the same communities as their parents and to do it in a “grown-up” way. By being aware of it, parents will be able to have the discussion with their children and although they are teenagers and pretend not to listen, they will discuss it with their friends and will hopefully be Internet-safe.

On a lighter note, what this trend also highlights is how quickly the on-line gaming, so called “social gaming” is coming into the sphere of influence of children. Facebook games such as Farmville, Mafia Wars and Cafe World are already researching high on recall for teens. When this happens it does take long before 10-12 year olds take them up and then they will start to become household brands, with multi-media possibilities. Watch this space.

So should we beware kids on-line? I think we need to be aware and so do they, but there are too many positives for us to think it’s wrong and of course it’s too late. So act honestly and with integrity, which includes the researchers, and then the internet will be a force for good and Globally too.

[NB. I learned some more interesting facts and opinions from the conference and will tell these soon]

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Brands Escaping The Clutter – Learning from Kid’s Marketing!

A holiday conundrum for you to ponder over the holidays!

Markets for all brands are cluttered.

Consumers are difficult to reach, they aren’t brand loyal anymore, they are difficult to find, they are fickle, they don’t use media like they used to and they can’t be found in masses anymore!

It was ever thus in the kids markets!
We love the headaches this can cause.
We love the cut and thrust, the flexibility and the “chase” to reach this audience.

Many years of building brands targeted at kids has made it enlightening to see today’s brand owners groaning under the strain of “keeping up” with their audience.
With the “adult” brands tThe techniques which have been honed over many years just don’t stack up anymore. The “science” has gone out of marketing. It’s now much more of an art, brands need to “know” their consumers in an intimate, interactive, conversational and tactile way.

Just like the kids markets!

We have always had to worry about shifting trends, about brands being “in” one week and “out” the next – it’s part of our art.
Our audience have had their own TV stations for decades, they are ahead of the curve with all things digital, they are consumers and consummate influencers in many markets already. We are happy to treat them with respect and to learn from them; not to force things on them and let them decide what goes and what doesn’t.

It surprises us when we hear that other consumers are now behaving the same way and that the brands don’t know how to handle it.

The solution – THINK KID!
Get your head into the “lateral thinking” space; understand “what a kid would do” and how it will affect your brand. Target your consumer as though they are kids; it’ll be enlightening!

Where to find the solution: http://childrensmarketingexpert.com/our-offer/training 

 

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Marketing To Kids Ethicallly – Is banning Junk Food Advertising The Answer?

I’m not absolutely sure that the calls to ban junk food advertising will have the effect that many moms and pressure groups expect it to.

There can be no doubt that foods high in fat, sugar, salt (FSS), preservatives, additives or anything, for that matter, unnatural and inorganic, is not good for you if taken in high doses or in levels that don’t fit with other foods in a balanced diet.
It is no surprise that there are many lobbying moms out there who want to rid the world of junk food and feel the best initial step is to ban the advertising of these products.

This week there has been a clammer for the Federal Trade Commission(FTC) in the USA to clamp down on the glut of TV advertising seen by children and the high percentage of promotions seen on kids TV channels in the States, especially on Nickelodeon.
This week they held a conference to discuss the measures that should be applied to manufacturers to curb their levels of advertising to kids and they followed this up with an announcement of new restrictions which will apply to advertisers. The measures are voluntary!

The Twitter world has been aglow with people in the anti camp and we’ve heard very little from the food manufacturers themselves. Groups such as  #OCmoms, #Boycottnick, #momblog and the campaign for commercial free childhood (@commercialfree) have been tweeting and arranging petitions against Nickelodeon, in particular, for “brainwashing” our children. The baton has been taken up int he UK by Sustain who wish to prevent junk food being used in product placement or advertiser funded programming.
Whilst I have enormous sympathy for these campaigns I can’t help feeling the objections are slightly over the top and actually mis-guided in their approach. What is the ultimate aim?
Are they addressing the symptoms or the cause? Will these campaigns actually succeed in reducing obesity or in improving the diet of their children or indeed, the holy grail; will they get the manufacturers to change the make-up of their products so that they contain less of what is so bad for us?

Let me say here that I have no sympathy for the food manufacturers and junk food restaurants; they haven’t helped themselves with their behaviour over many years and meanwhile have made $billions by keeping us mis-informed and uneducated about their foodstuffs. They continue to produce foods they say that the “consumer wants” and then hide behind spurious claims for the products that hide the real levels of FSS and hope that consumers won’t notice or they make sure there is no education in order to help parents make wise dietary decisions. This is unethical and I feel they have brought all of their present troubles on themselves.

So, will banning all junk food advertising on children’s TV work?
Assuming that the ultimate aim, in my view, is to reduce childhood obesity, then I say no it will not work. It hasn’t worked in the UK where we banned it a couple of years ago.
There is no advertising in the UK on kids TV channels for foods considered high in FSS based on UK government benchmarks. Obesity has not reduced in the UK and children still crave after a MacDonalds or Burger King. The reasons?
One reason is that there are so many ways to communicate with children and as many people within this debate realise children don’t watch as much kids TV as they do “adult” TV. The cereal manufacturers have simply taken their money out of the kids TV channels and dumped it in larger numbers into Saturday night shows such as The X-Factor (UK’s Pop Idol). The levels of in-school promotions by these brand owners has also increased considerably through Internet “educational” programmes.
However, the key reason this doesn’t work is that children’s key form of communication and the ultimate arbiter of what is cool is the playground, or the after school club, or the bedroom with brother and sister. The only way you’re going to prevent the passing on of these messages is by putting on blinkers and stuffing in earplugs. Children are savvy communicators, they know what advertising is and whilst we all have a duty of care to protect the young, we are not the keeper of their own rights as individuals to know what’s going on and eventually to make their own decisions. In cases where parents dominate and say “they know best” at all times, we have the corollary to Nickelodeon’s said “brainwashing”.

So what’s my solution to this crisis? And I’m not just throwing this word out there, the obesity levels of children with a western diet constitutes a crisis.

As a comparison I point people to the ban on tobacco advertising in the UK. This was intended to reduce smoking and it was felt the tobacco giants would be the poorer for it. Actually the result was no decrease in smoking levels (it went up with young women!) and the nett result was higher profits for manufacturers! It was only when public opinion swayed against smoking that the government then banned smoking in public places and people started to think seriously about their habit and less people have taken it up.
What I’m saying is that it is in the court of public opinion where the changes get made. It is the consumer who ultimately decides the outcome.
A similar case is the one of “drink driving” which for years was considered OK by many as long as not too drunk, but gradually public opinion has made it extremely anti-social to drink and drive and the result is big reductions in conviction levels.

So here is my solution. Let’s make the over-consumption of foods that are bad for you as anti-social as smoking and drink driving. Let’s make it cool to be healthy. If you’re a kid you can still be a rebel, be anti-establishment, inquisitive and uber-cool and not eat too many burgers! 

Consumers need to unite against the manufacturers in a different way and attack the cause and not keep putting sticking plasters over the symptoms. Let’s be holistic and force the manufacturers to change their ways.

We need to be “outing” the brand owners and informing everyone of the dishonesty apparent in many marketing camapaigns. This shouldn’t be directed at governments and lobbying them to help as there are too many vested interests here; it is down to us, the consumer, to pressurise the brand owners.
We know this can work as only last month Kelloggs were forced to drop a campaign that claimed cereals were a boost to the immune system and a help in prevention of bird flu!

What the manufacturers are scared of is having to be honest about what is in their products and are fighting hard not to participate in a system we call “traffic lights” in the UK, where key components in foods are given a green (low), amber (OK) and red (high) rating. Categories are fat, saturated fat, sugar, salt and calories. One supermarket int he UK (Sainsbury’s) already applies this to all their own-label foods and I congratulate them for it – It doesn’t stop you buying foods with red lights (I love cheese) but it does make you think about the balance of foods you are buying. (in the States you have GO, SLOW, WHOA)
The manufacturers are scared stiff of such a regulation being forced upon them and will fight extremely hard to prevent it. That must beggar the question why? And the reason is that they won’t be able to be unethical and dishonest any more; cereal manufacturers would have to admit that their products are stuffed full of salt and sugar and not so much of the “wholegrain”!
I believe the upshot of this won’t be eating a lot less cereals, as breakfast is a good time to get this energy, but that moms will be aware that their children should have less salt and sugar in the lunchbox or later at dinner. It’s about balance! The same goes for other “bad” foods; there is no reason to completely ditch them, just understand how often they should be eaten.

We have to apply the pressure to the manufacturers and not hope governments will do it for us. It’ s time to set up a campaign where we publish the information the brand owners don’t want us to and in a way that is simple to follow and which ultimately will get the manufacturers to do the right thing. To do that we must tell each other (and everyone else) the truth about brands and what’s in them.

 For my part I am setting up a “real” kids products review blog and web site where we can all send in the truth about kids brands and rate them in a simple and easy to understand way and in a way that will make the brand owners take notice. I’m hoping to launch this soon; Does anyone want to join with me to make this happen quickly?

 

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The Best Toy You Ever Had or Still Have – Vote, win and raise $$ for charity!

The Best Toy You Ever Had or Still Have – Vote, win and raise $$ for charity!

It’s holiday time and I want to know the most popular toy ever!

And what’s more one of you will win the most popular choice * 
Everyone who votes is entered for the draw!
Plus, for every entry we will donate to a children’s charity*.

What’s your favourite? Barbie, Bratz, Transformers, Frisbee, Chess, Marbles, Lego, Knex, the list is endless!

Vote in the comments. Pass this on to friends and family.

I’ll get the result out in time for Santa to get it on the sleigh!

* Terms and Conditions: Each voter can only vote for one toy. We will purchase product up to a maximum spend of $100. Should we be unable to purchase the winning toy for under $100 we will send the winner $100 through Paypal or you can nominate for us to give it to charity. For each vote we will donate $0.10 to charity.  We will inform you of the charitable donation size and to whom it has gone in these comments; should we not get many votes then we reserve the right to keep the sum and add it to future charitable efforts. Vote will end 12.00 (GMT) on 24th December 2009.

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What makes a good Toy – I have the calculator!

With holidays fast approaching why don’t you try putting the toys you want into this calculator.

If you score low then think twice. If you are very low in some sections have a good think about why you are buying the toy.

Most of all though don’t discount things that look a bit dodgy; just accept that they have limitations and that the fun your child will have with this may only be temporary, but that may be enough.

I thank UK toy company, WORLDS APART, for kindly allowing us to use this. Please click on the link at the bottom to have a look at their fantastic Dream House.

Enjoy!

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Xmas / Holidays – Negotiating with the kids!!

Part 1

It’s a stressful time for parents and by now they will all have had the dreaded “list” from their beloved offspring.
I remember those days; months would be spent thinking about it, honing the list down to essentials and then adding the extras just in case I were to get everything!
Well, the good, or is it bad, news is that nothing has changed. Kids will still be getting out the paper and pen and jotting down everything they see and fancy, form TV adverts, to their friends clothes and suggestions, to what their favourite sportsman and celebrity are doing or wearing. It’s no different to when we were kids the only difference is that the products we are consuming have evolved.

It’s considered more difficult for parents today to say no; they feel bombarded with messages and don’t want to feel they have let their kids down. Guilt is s terrible thing and do you know what; children know this! it’s part of the game for them; you see they’ll be pushing for everything they can get.

You can say no! you just have to be ready for the ensuing negotiation, because children are adept in negotiation skills, it comes naturally to them.
We also have these skills, its just that we’ve pushed them to the back of our minds and rarely bring them out into our adult World.

We asked an expert about this, and how we may negotiate with children in order that everyone comes out a winner and the Holidays are a little less fraught.
Alan Smith is a negotiation Guru from Scotwork and he has this advice:

Beginning at about age two, kids negotiate everything from what to eat to what to wear. As they get older, they negotiate when and where to do homework and what activities to get involved in. During the teen years, negotiations open up over time to get in after the party and who gets use of the car. 

But what do they do that makes them so much better than us, and what can we learn about how to handle negotiations in the big bad world by watching our children. 

1) The first is to get creative. Kids do not worry if the items they are trading do not appear to be connected. A colleague of mine tells the story of his son Tom, who every Sunday would be badgered to finish his sprouts at the lunch table. This would happen every week and usually ended in tears (of frustration by the parents). In early December Tom was asking his dad if he could get a Play Station for Christmas and was meeting a little resistance. Immediately Tom made a proposal, “Dad if you get me a Play Station for Christmas, I promise I will eat my sprouts every week”. What did a Play Station have to do with sprouts? Absolutely nothing, except that Tom had recognised that eating sprouts was important to his parents and had banked it. Crucially, because it appeared important, he knew he could get something worthwhile in return. Being creative is hard on the hoof, so make sure when you are preparing to negotiate you spend time brainstorming all of the variables you have to trade. Spend particular time trying to come up with concessions that have a differential value, worth a lot to the other side, but cost you little to give in.

2) Make sure you are consistent. If you change your mind like the wind when put under pressure, do not be surprised if the pressure mounts every time a disagreement looms. “Play nicely while I make this call and you can have a biscuit” “I want 2 biscuits”. “Okay 2 biscuits then” Next time you want a 5 minute break guess where the negotiation opens. At 2 biscuits! What is worse is that you have set the precedent that when you are pushed concessions will pop out. And work with the others in your team to ensure consistency is maintained. The number of mums who complain that whilst they put the child on the naughty step, the dads invite them off to watch telly. You need to present a consistent and strong message. If you do move from your position, and you will sometimes have to do so, get something back in return. Remember negotiation is a trading process, not a way of surrendering slowly.

So there is the first 2 tips.

Tips 3, 4 and 5 come in Part 2, Soon!

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Nickelodeon’s new branding – or is it?

Have you seen Nick’s new branding? yes? well you must be in North America then!

Back in September, after reading about Nickelodeon’s plans to re-brand and seeing the images I thought I’d wait a while before commenting on the marque and whether I believe it to be an improvement.

At the time I remember thinking it’s a great idea and I really liked the new logos and the explanation from president Cyma Zarghami, that went with it:  “We decided that the splat was dated,” and concluded that tying it to each sub-brand “just couldn’t be done in a streamlined way. The “i” in the new wordmark makes a nod to the old “splat,” and is tied to the past in on-air promotions.”

Which is all well and good, except that as I sat back to write up my positive reflections of two months of new branding I thought I’d check out how the rest of the World was incorporating the new image into it’s local channel marketing, through the Nick web sites.
I was surprised to find the UK site had the old logos and so too the rest of Europe. Ok, never mind, I tried Australia, old logo, then India, old logo, New Zealand, you guessed it and so it went on. It appears that the only countries in the world with the brand spanking new Nick logos are USA and Canada.

I’m amazed! In these days of instant media and zealous brand protection and licensing I’m stunned that Nick are allowing their brand to be muddled in this way.
I’m sure it’s only a short term thing but I can’t understand why it wasn’t done simultaneously. Ok there is licensed product on shelf with the old splat but surely this is the case in the USA? I don’t believe that Dora product will be reduced in value by having the splat on the back – children know the brand logo is new and therefore won’t mind!

It’s left me wondering why Nick would do this. I’m not sure. Are they worried that the new logo’s will not be a success and therefore they are testing them on Nth America. I doubt this, but if it is so it shows a distinct lack of brand confidence; which is not something I would have thought Nick would suffer from.

So come on Nick, Let us know the reason.

Oh, and I love the new branding; I want it here in the UK!!

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Get Your Products Reviewed By The Expert!

Get Your Products Reviewed By The Expert!

Have you developed a kids targeted Brand?

Have you got a good idea that needs an opinion?

We will review all of your products for you.

Toys Value Calculator – Brilliant product and great marketing gadget!

The best toy marketing I’ve seen this year, by a long chalk!

Well done UK  toy company Worlds Apart! I think this is not only a good idea for the toy market but that World’s Apart have put marketing toys to kids on another level with their involvement. I want to use this too on a new site I’m developing and so will be on the phone to them pronto!

So what have they done?
They’ve joined up with a renowned psychologist to produce a scientific formula designed to calculate a toy’s ‘play value’ based on factors including cost, the amount of time a child is expected to spend with it and whether it encourages skills such as creativity and social interaction.

 The Formula, which is available to use via an online calculator at www.toybuyornot.co.uk allows parents to quickly compute if a toy is likely to be a hit with their child. It was developed after a survey of nearly 5,000 parents found that 65 per cent said their children often received toys they didn’t play with, and eight out of 10 parents admitting they were being more cautious about how they spend their cash this year.

http://www.toybuyornot.co.uk/

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Celebrating Kids! – Sesame Street is 40

Hoorah for Sesame Street!

This is something worth celebrating and not just for the fact that there will be a big licensing programme to exploit this anniversary, but for the years of fun and education brought to billions of children throughout the world. We have to thank the originators for a programme that today may not even get made! 

Sesame Street was one of the first kids televi...
Image via Wikipedia

I have read many articles which point out that Sesame Street is not a “perfect” programme for educating children; that it breaks all the standard rules and that if it was made today it would need to be better targeted and to take into account the educational methods of the 21st century.

But isn’t this just the point?

Sesame Street in the way it has been made and the context it is set within, is by it’s very nature “counter culture”. The characters are lovable, yet urban and slightly anarchic. I always felt that Sesame St was sticking a finger up to education and saying to kids that you can learn with us, we are your pals and we are here to help. Kids love this and respond to it, and low and behold Sesame Street is still here and still educating and being loved by another generation of kids; and long may it continue.

It is certainly true from a licensing standpoint that certain characters such as Elmo demand the limelight and this will be driven by licensees such as Mattel, but this does not take away from the core essence of a brand.

This is one that moms and grandmoms love dearly and they want to pass Sesame Street to their offspring.  I hope that the writers continue to bring fun and education. Sesame Street is the original “edutainment”

Here’s to another 40 years!

 

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Marketing to kids – Dolls – an opportunity!

Mattel is a worldwide smash as a company. Why is this? it’s a simple answer – Barbie!

The history of Barbie is well documented so I’ll let you do your own research but the rise of a phenomenal brand has mapped the rise of parent company Mattel. In the UK we had Sindy, which for nearly 30 years rivalled Barbie on UK shelves, until Mattel started a campaign to dominate the sector in the early 1990’s; it worked, Sindy has all but gone and Barbie appeared to be in a such dominance that “the world was the petite one’s oyster”! That of course was until…

Bratz. The urban, shocking, big eyed and rebellious brand took us all by storm and beat the living daylights out of the cutesy, fairy-like queen of dolls and we revelled in the competition, but alas it wasn’t to last. It turned out that MGA had “pulled a fast one” and “stolen” the designs for Bratz from under the noses of Mattel. The subsequent spat went to court and Mattel won; MGA has to withdraw Bratz from retail shelves by January 2010 and the way is now open for Barbie to resume it’s hegemony; or so we thought.

Of course there are other players in the toy world and whilst Mattel and MGA fought out their heavyweight battle they were busy developing brands to fill the gap, to try and keep up the competition; keep Barbie on it’s toes and earn some money from the slap to MGA. So what do we get?

Bratz in disguise! We get new models which are borrowing Bratz rebellious streak, the “look” but brought up to date; but is it new? Moxie girls and Liv doll, and any others that may be out there are just filling a gap and producing “me-too” brands. Easy money, can’t knock it, but I still feel there has been an opportunity missed and to be honest that opportunity is still there.

Funny though, when I mention this to toy manufacturers and designers, no-one seems keen to take up the cudgel. There seems to a resigned look, as if to say “we can’t take on Mattel and Spinmaster” ; we’ll leave it to them.

If anyone out there is a designer of toys and wants to work with me on a new girls doll concept, please give me a shout. I expect you to be slightly mad and completely “out there”, but it can be done. We can change the world!

Someone has to. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/08/fashion/08dolls.html?pagewanted=2&_r=2&ref=fashion

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Professional Services

Professional Services

Brands can no longer rely on customer loyalty

It was ever thus in the children’s markets!

See how all brands can benefit from children’s marketing techniques

See how we can help you

Terrific: Woolies set to make return to the High Street | Toy Industry | News by ToyNews

Woolies should never have shut down; it was a business in turnaround with a strong management team.
The banks panicked and the rest is history.

This is a terrific brand which is too good to let go.
The toy industry in the UK has been hit hard by it’s demise as they were staunch supporters of many licensees and not just the “big guys”

I hope Tony Page gets involved.

Here’s the link: Woolies set to make return to the High Street | Toy Industry | News by ToyNews.

Marketing to Kids Ethically – Part 2

I was asked last week: “Is advertising targeted directly at children correct or not?”

I did think about it but I knew the answer I would give as it is the same every time I’m asked, and it has been asked on many occasions, most especially in recent years.

I believe that all advertising reaches children.

Children are huge consumers of media and contrary to popular belief they do not consume the majority of this watching children’s TV channels! Children are to be found in far greater numbers watching “adult” TV. They are constant companions to soaps, reality shows and entertainment. This doesn’t mean they are not watching children’s shows, especially when younger, and therefore directly targeted advertising reaches them, but they see just as much if not more adult targeted advertising than they do their own brands.

In the UK many food brands are banned from advertising on children’s TV, but this doesn’t mean they can’t advertise to children in huge numbers by advertising in The X-Factor for example. Many advertisers make the most of this and then can claim they are targeting mums and adults and not fall foul of rules governing what children can see. Cereal manufacturers are of course at the forefront of this.

Back to the question!

In my opinion you can advertise to children provided you are not exploiting them. Of course the next question is what is exploitation when marketing to kids.

I’ll get to that in part 3!

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Children’s Rights – If the UK can’t get it right, where does this leave us?

It’s a sorry state of affairs when a so-called leading country gets slammed for not delivering on the UN convention on the rights of the child; but this is what is happening in the UK, where a parliamentary committee has exposed it’s own government’s poor record.

How can we possibly have any moral high ground when we can’t get our own act in order: (from www.cypnow.co.uk)

MPs and Lords in the UK have slammed the government for failing to safeguard children’s rights, in a damning report to mark the 20th anniversary of UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). 

The report by the parliamentary Joint Select Committee On Human Rights says that a concerted plan is needed to address UK’s poor record on children’s rights.

It points to a 2007 Unicef report on children’s wellbeing, covering schooling poverty and health in which the UK came bottom out of 21 developed countries.

The report calls for reforms such as an end to recruiting under-18s into the armed forces and action to address negative stereotyping of children and young people.

The high numbers of vulnerable children in the criminal justice system and the continued use of painful restraint techniques on young people in detention are also called into question.

The committee’s chair Andrew Dismore MP, said: “Tackling the level of wellbeing and negative perception of children in society needs positive and practical action. Children themselves should be seen and heard in that process.”

The Children’s Society’s parliamentary advisor Katherine Hill said: “It is a disgrace that children in this country are still being treated as second-class citizens, facing excessive criminalisation, negative stereotyping and infringements of their rights.  It is the most vulnerable children in our society who are experiencing the greatest harm.”

Children’s minister Delyth Morgan has promised an action plan to uphold children’s rights. However, she did not specify whether this will address the committee’s concerns surrounding the treatment of young offenders or negative perceptions of young people.

Morgan said: “A nation is rightly judged by how it treats its children and young people and much has been done to improve their standing in our society. But we know there is more to do to ensure they are supported to deal with the challenges they face in the 21st century.”

So get on and do it then! there is no excuse; saying “there is more to do” doesn’t cut it; Do it!
Start by involving the children

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