For or against the system?

4 Nov 2007

Mallock2006 Posted: Sat Nov 03, 2007 12:58 am Post subject:
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They can join the forces at 16 and potentially go to war so why not leave home or vote for that matter
No u can join the army mallock but u cannot now send anyone under the age of 18 into a war zone.
As I joined as a boy soldier many moons ago cool

and I now think that we should look at putting everything to the age of 21, as the kids are being pushed into being an adult before they are ready, most of it by slick marketing and sado mp's trying to get a vote from an impressionable age group who haven't been let to live there childhoods.
mr 22

4 Nov 2007

Quote by Sweet22couple
Mallock2006 Posted: Sat Nov 03, 2007 12:58 am Post subject:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
They can join the forces at 16 and potentially go to war so why not leave home or vote for that matter
No u can join the army mallock but u cannot now send anyone under the age of 18 into a war zone.
As I joined as a boy soldier many moons ago and I now think that we should look at putting everything to the age of 21, as the kids are being pushed into being an adult before they are ready, most of it by slick marketing and sado mp's trying to get a vote from an impressionable age group who haven't been let to live there childhoods.
mr 22

Oh, how I agree....fishnets for 7 year olds...."aspire to be a street sex worker" dollZ...you know the ones I mean.

4 Nov 2007

The 'system' isn't something outside of our control. It doesn't trundle on without us. It is not an independent organism.
We are the system. We are the ones who make the laws. We vote in the law makers. We are the ones that argue for and against things and can organise petitions. Go on marches. Use our Vote. We are the ones that like and dislike things and can use pen and paper and get things changed. etc etc
Many people have named their favourite film previously as being 'Shawshank redemption' In that film Andy Defresne writes many many letters to get books to create a library. He eventually succeeds in realising his ambition for that library. I know it is a film.
Amnesty international save many many lives every year by simply encouraging people to write letter/faxes/e-mails. That is real life.
If you don't like something do something about it.
The system is what we create.
As for what the law says ? I don't know. I live within the law to a greater extent. But on an empty road with no traffic I have gone through on an amber light.
I have driven over the speed limit.
I have been aware of people close to me breaking the law and done nothing about it as I saw it as way down a list of my personal priorities.
I have taken my underage son to see certain films at the cinema.
Do I want him to leave home at 16, 18, 28, no. I don't (because he will always be my baby- as he says rolleyes

) I will be incredibly sad when I have an empty house. But I do know that when he does leave he will have all the support I can give him. He talks to me about things that are important to him and I realise that he is an incredibly wise person. Almost without me noticing sometimes. He does make mistakes but what he does is carefully learn from them. I suspect that he will make far less mistakes then I ever did. But he has been raised differently to me.
What I am absolutely sure of is that when he leaves he will have prepared himself and will be doing it because he thinks he is ready. Whether I agree or not is irrelevant. He has to make his own life.
right.. I have gone on enough I hope that I have made sense.
splendid

4 Nov 2007

Quote by winchwench
Mallock2006 Posted: Sat Nov 03, 2007 12:58 am Post subject:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
They can join the forces at 16 and potentially go to war so why not leave home or vote for that matter
No u can join the army mallock but u cannot now send anyone under the age of 18 into a war zone.
As I joined as a boy soldier many moons ago and I now think that we should look at putting everything to the age of 21, as the kids are being pushed into being an adult before they are ready, most of it by slick marketing and sado mp's trying to get a vote from an impressionable age group who haven't been let to live there childhoods.
mr 22

Oh, how I agree....fishnets for 7 year olds...."aspire to be a street sex worker" dollZ...you know the ones I mean.
:worship: Oh my goodness, here I am on my knees...with Wenchy :twisted: and yes make it 21 :thumbup:

4 Nov 2007

Firstly my main problem I suppose is that I feel the system IS independant of me or at least has been until now because there are so many things happening that are definitely against what I believe is right.
I know that we are the system ultimately and that we vote the government in but we often do this whilst under the influence of propaganda and lies that are spun by these people in order to make us vote them in, in the first place evil

. I have never voted. Mainly because politics have never interested me either because they have never been put to me in an inspiring way or because I have been so wrapped up in the different stages of my life to bother. I will however rectify that from now on! I have never been on a march. The only time I was ever truly inspired to go on one I was too young to be allowed to go and would have had to lie to my Mum to go. I have signed many petitions though. I WANT to do more now. I am 42 and it’s taken me this long to open my eyes and realise that there are things happening that I do not agree with. I now have to learn how and what to do about it. :notes:
Films like Shawshank Redemption inspire me for a while but I must admit that I am often full of ideas and alot of them never get put into practise as I'm not much of a sticker for projects unless I am really driven by whatever the project is.
As far as the law goes I am law abiding unless I unwittingly break it. I have had speeding points added but literally for doing 35 in a 30 zone whilst daydreaming. I never do it knowing and intending to. When my son decided it was ok to have something green (AUP) in his drawer that the law doesn’t allow I called the police and let him take the flack from them. However whilst doing this I was allowing him to play playstation games that were positively encouraging law breaking and violence and listen to music that to me was just noise but on further inspection turned out to be inciteful and actually at times downright scarey. Being the trusting soul I am I was comfortably thinking well it must be ok if the shops are allowed to sell it to kids etc etc etc and not taking the notice I should have been. I’m sorry but he is my first child so I didn’t have the manual. What has this to do with kids leaving home at 16 though? Well by the time said son was about a year away from this golden age, he had started “smoking” drinking (never at home I hasten to add) and spending a lot of his spare time in the same town as his secondary school (not the town we lived in) which is home to alot of the overspill of families in difficult situations from London. Once or twice as he was nearing 16 he stayed out and on contacting the police I was told that at the age of 16 they would not go looking for him as he would be allowed to leave if he so wanted. He just wanted to be with his mates. So when he was 16 we found ourselves in the position of having to move 30 minutes drive away from where we lived and also 30 minutes away from his secondary school town and all the friends he had made and he decided he was not moving with us and I had no leg to stand on even though I KNEW the mistake he was making was huge. I do feel that if I had had the law on my side and he stayed I could have made moves to correct certain mistakes that had been made both on my part and his.
I agree with you Splendid that in an ideal world none of my kids will want to go as they will all love it here with us so much. I can also categorically say that the morning he left I was heartbroken as he was and is still a baby to me (he is now 19).
The problem is all kids think they are ready at whatever age they are to do certain things, when we as adults KNOW that they are not. I would just like to see the age changed to something where they are better equipt to make such an important decision.
I do want to state at this stage that my son and I have a fantastic relationship. We talk to each other about everything and love each other to bits and there have been times in his life that I have been so proud of him I could have burst and he knows this.
One of my reasons for starting this thread was to gauge the responses from other folk. It seems to me that although we are a small minority in a big country I’m not alone in my view. All I have to do now is persuade Mr Brown…… now! shall I wear the black or the red suspenders when he invites me to go and have a nice chat with him

5 Nov 2007

Quote by firelizard
shall I wear the black or the red suspenders when he invites me to go and have a nice chat with him

... niether... a determined look and a winning smile!
lp

5 Nov 2007

Very interesting thread today. As a youth worker, I with many 'young people' in their teenage years. I don't think the problem is age. The problem is with Political Correctness. In my work, I have to call the kids 'young people'. I hate using this term as it is also the term used when working with 11/12 year olds. The reason being, the system is promoting kids as adults with rights in my opinion. Why can't we call them kids or teenagers as that is what they are. Political Correctness is taking away childhood. Some of the kids I work with look at me stupid when I call them 'young people'!!!!!
But in terms of age, I do think the drinking age should be raised to 21. I work with quite a lot of kids who are drinking at the age of 13/14 and many 16 year olds are getting served in pubs and clubs. Binge drinking in under 18s is a problem today and I believe the only way to combat (not stop I hasten to add as no intervention on this earth will stop kids experimenting)is to raise the age limit.
I say LET KIDS BE KIDS, they might surprise you !!!
Mich

5 Nov 2007

Yes, tricky one is age. From October this year the legal age to buy tobacco products is 18. That means a 16 year old can have a right royal romp in the bed but is denied buying a packet of fags to have a smoke afterwards !!!!!!!
Echoes