Here is another post about young children, but this one definately does not fall into the category of ‘humour’, for it concerns various reports in the press, that on entering school a number of children are unable to communicate, socialise and carry out the most basic of tasks such as holding a pencil. In fact, in extreme cases some children do not even know their own name, or do not recognise it when it is spoken in a normal tone of voice, because at home they only hear it when it is shouted at them.
We are told by the ‘experts‘ that this is the result of poor parenting, for it seems that half of youngsters arrive at infant school with poor communication skills, and this situation is blamed on the low aspirations of parents trapped in poverty, where no member of the family has worked for generations. It would appear that these parents do not bother to talk to, play with or read to their children.
As one who had a happy childhood, albeit in a fairly poor working class family, and later made a living by using his communication skills (and still manages to string a few sentences together), I find myself lost for words and saddened when I read, that when questioned about her child’s inability to speak, one young mother is reported to have said …
…. “He don’t talk to me so I don’t talk to him”.
bigjohn 
