Whinge about political correctness!!!!!

[nick the grief]

I'm suprised no ones complained that he doesn't wear a seat belt

[yoanbob]

who said he doesnt wear a seat belt, let me tell you his time defining magik sleigh requires a seat belt and allways has.
and a magik g force screen.
gosh its prepostrous how little you know about FARTHER CRISTMAS!

zebadee couldnt agree more, for about 5 years before i worked on ships i also volunteered as a youth worker in a not so nice neighbourhood,
their was a kid age 7 who was in so much trouble with the schools he was in serious danger of falling out of the system, left alone he would have. he put kids 7 years older than him in hospital, frequently, but if you gave him somthing usefull to do he was an angel, i.e. can you stack those chairs for me? can you sweep the floor for me? loved doing it and the praise he got was an evident motivator, trouble was he would insist every week that his mum promised to collect him, and never did, we used to take him home after waiting over half an hour, at which point the kid would would pick his alcoholic mother of the sofa and take her to bed.
can you blame him for standing up for himself?
he was the adult in his world.
after that i went to the states to work with kids, all of them great kids, tho did get woken up at 3.00 am with a knife to my throat from an 8 yr old, i asked if could wait till morning as i was exteamly exhausted she said o.k. and we had a great chat the next day.
had to ask permission from kids to give them a hug when they were homesick.
we both (Bob and I )moved back home, me after 10 years of being abroad, we only just managed to get on the housing ladder, but a bad area, our street is lovley, the people are great, but on three sides we are surounded by bad council estates, people get shot all the time,
yesterday i was suprised by carol singers, 2 boys about 10 and 3 girls about 13, they were brilliant! the boys started the girls came in in perfect harmony, they had practiced and had 3 songs, knew all the words, t'was brilliant, really made me feel x-massy,
never under estimate kids.

[Sunbeam]

I don't think this falls under political correctness, but my sons' nativity play started with a 'fire exits safety announcement'!!??????

[madderbat]

Hi Yo,
The 7 year old's story touched me deeply. All most kids want is to be 'useful beans' as I found out when mine was small. It's part of trying to make sense of the world, to find a purpose and be appreciated. That's all any child needs, and so few of them get.
Obviously your small friend had supreme problems with his Mum, but hadn't given up hoping she would come right. Unfortunately his love alone sounds as though it wasn't enough to help her.

[yoanbob]

agree with you MD somtimes love alone alone wont help.
Even with "grown up relationships"
but the differerance between not ocupied violent very scary child and the angel we knew he could be, well it was jeckel and hyde.
i am not blaming the school in any way, we had a very free philosophy in the kids club, all the kids had access to scouts brownies karate, etc. we offered a place where where you could do art or cooking or sport or role play or if you wanted you could run around in circle and scream all nite.
and just be a child. we didnt do decipline tho three major offences meant you were out for 3 months.
even the realy bad kids were so disapointed that fromed and wanted to prove themselves we let them back.
and they allways did good.
with the art projects in particular , used to get letters from the school "disadvantaged kids adviser" saying i got a gift today, ** couldnt have got him to sit down and do that, how did you do it?
truth was we didnt know he had a problem .

[snohare]

I deliver furniture and help people move into flats for a homeless charity. Us volunteers are all trained up to the eyebrows in how to be "sensitive" and "tolerant" and use the right words when dealing with clients, who it is clearly understood often have not learned the delicate arts of social negotiation. ("Gimme the cooker!" was our most memorable moment ! )
When I first started straight out of training I was all set not to swear, say derogatory things, or risk being misconstrued.
I was going to be a right little po-faced watsit.
Happily we had with us a client volunteer who used lots of ...vigourous .... sign language, (we were in a white van !) threw tantrums, and generally was a law unto himself, albeit with a heart of gold. Seeing how the clients - including, or maybe especially, the potentially "troublesome" clients, dealt with this "special needs" person taught me more than any rule book ever will. Getting on with other types of people is dead simple really. (Simple, not necessarily easy. )
If you have hard and fast boundaries in what you are willing to do, have no malice in your heart towards the people you deal with, are willing to apologise for misunderstandings in order to clear them up even if they are not your fault, and do your best to be WYSIWYG, then by and large people will accept you in the same spirit of sincere goodwill. Where goodwill or trust is lacking, it hardly matters what you say...it will probably be misconstrued. It's the non-verbal signals that matter then.
Political correctness reminds me of a saying that my father used when he was in the police force..."Rules are for the blind obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men".
You can always tell an idiot...he's the person who tries to foolproof a system by inventing ever-more rules, rather than catching the fools when they show lack of judgement ! Don't get me started on social work legislation....

[madderbat]

You've hit it right on the nail here Yoandbob: truth was we didnt know he had a problem .
Expectations cause so many problems.

As Snohare says, "Getting on with other types of people is dead simple really. (Simple, not necessarily easy.)
If you have hard and fast boundaries in what you are willing to do, have no malice in your heart towards the people you deal with, are willing to apologise for misunderstandings in order to clear them up even if they are not your fault, and do your best to be WYSIWYG, then by and large people will accept you in the same spirit of sincere goodwill. Where goodwill or trust is lacking, it hardly matters what you say...it will probably be misconstrued. It's the non-verbal signals that matter then."

If you have a good heart and leave pride outside the door, you can move mountains and achieve miracles. Unfortunately all too often some other bastard comes along and kicks the sand castle down.

[yoanbob]

good will to all who volunteer!