To think this is wrong for an 8yr old to be asked to say in assembly?

[gingerbiscuitandacuppatea]

DD (age 8 in yr 3) is doing a UNICEF assembly soon about child labour. They are reading out some examples of children's experiences, like carrying rocks up a hill, looking after cows etc.

my DD's lines include

"She used to slap me and shout at me. One day she poured petrol over me and set it alight. I rushed to the sink and splashed water over myself so luckily I wasn't too badly burned. They gave me cream for my burns and locked me in my room."

Would you be happy about your 8 year old being given those lines? I'm not happy that she now knows about people doing something so horrible, surely children this age do not need exposing to this at school?

*previous/precious.

Same diff. Sort of

I remember at 5 watching a film at school about the holocast, it was about the liberation of the consent ration camps, very graphic pictures of bodies being bulldozed into graves, I remember it clearly and talking to my Dad about it, he had seen the same film at the cinema at the end of the war when he was 8 and his brother 7, it may of upset us at the time? I don't remember nor did he, I just know it is one of the things in my life which has been held at the back of my mind and why I get frightened by Britain first and UKIP, I digress.
As an adult I was fine the minute I had children I find things far more frightening and scary, I actually had to give away a book I had loved (loved is possibly the wrong word, it was a deeply horrific book, written by a man who wrote without passion, emotion, or feeling about his time in a concentration camp) as it disturbed me to have it in the house after I had my children, same book which had moved me the only book I have ever read that made me realise that people can be broken to that extent.

So I think as adults we do try to protect when what we should be doing is supporting, educating and helping our babies grow...even though I know my 2 will always be babies.

My twins, 9 one would agonise over this type if thing firbweeks months even until he resolved it in his mind, the other it would be days, both would be moved to change the world, then forget their promises 2 mins later, I don't think we credit our children enough.

Because it's not right for an 8 year old to have in their mind an image of petrol being poured over a child and set alight. No need for such detail.

So, at 8 years old she has never seen the news?

If I was forewarned of such an image about to appear on the news, and my 9 year old was in the room, I would switch it off. I regularly switch off the radio in the car, if unsuitable issues are being discussed. (Issues which I regard as unsuitable for my child to be exposed to).

As soon as they are at senior school, it's 'open season', as far as their expanding knowledge of some of the baser realities of life is concerned, and that's time enough, imo.

I can't imagine that this will have been dropped on the children by their teacher with no preparation, so YABU.

I'm a bit at this being too much for our delicate little princelings to cope with as a concept, when this is the reality for other children in the world.

I want my kid to learn about life as it is for so many other children. That way, when he grows up, he may be prompted to help change the situation.

I don't think it is appropriate for that age group to be talking about child abuse in such detail... child labour maybe, but being set alight? That is a very disturbing image.

Also, in assembly at our school, the reception, Yr1 and yr2 children also attend, so would be listening to this as well....

I would not be fine with it.

I don't think a child that age (except in the most awful circumstances) can understand how much pain being on fire would be.

If they are able to understand it then it is a terrible image.

I don't agree children 'need to know', they need to know bad things happen, they don't IMHO, at this age, need the details.

We teach children not to let adults touch them except parents/Drs, we don't explain child rape in detail.

I also think there is another thing, a child can't do anything about this. If they see another child being bullied, are bullied, someone touches them they can take action. There is nothing they can do to stop the pain of one particular child in a developing country although they can fund raise.

YANBU I would be very upset at this. It's bonkers...torture and abuse is just not appropriate for such a young child.

I dread to think what the younger children will take away from that assembly. Hopefully the teacher has put more thought into it than is apparent from what you've shared.

From ten onwards I would have no problem.

At eight, I would hope to protect a DC of mine from such horrific specifics for a little bit longer. An imaginative eight year old (any 8 year old who had ever seen a barbeque and had the ability to think around things a bit for example) could be really disturbed.

Lets let our kids watch violent 18 rated films then. Reality, no matter how gritty, needs to be described in graphic detail obviously

There are some things that are not necessary for kids to hear, unless it is in a safeguarding capacity. For example, the underwear campaign by the NSPCC is age-appropriate, without going into harrowing, confusing details.
The adverts for child abuse used to make me cry in my bed at night because I couldn't process it properly- they were descriptive and horrible. Why not be thankful that your children aren't going through the same instead of making them feel guilty? They have their whole lives to be conscientous adults, raising awareness and making a difference, instead of scaring them when they are kids with stories about children being put on fire when there is nothing they can do about it. It is scaremongering.

Sometime

I think things should be age appropriate, and I think you can convey the message about child labour without this extract. What does it add to the message of the assembly for children sitting in a school here to have this bit? It is not about child labour, it is about child abuse.

It is also the case that terrible things happen to children in this country too, it is not just something that happens somewhere else. I am sure that many families whose children work love their children and do their best to manage in desperate circumstances. While you could argue that child labour is abuse in itself, the need for it is societal and systemic in some countries. That is a different matter to inter-personal violence directed at a child.

I also think it is dangerous to convey the message that child abuse is something that happens somewhere else, amongst (implicit in this assembly) less educated, less civilised peoples, both for the attitudes that conveys about those peoples and the idea that child abuse does not happen here.

Not sure if I am explaining myself well here. I think I would question what it adds to the assembly, to be honest. When you say it is from UNICEF, do you mean they have distributed the materials or do you means that the teachers have done it to promote UNICEF as a cause?

No it's too graphic for an 8 year old. Mine would have been upset. It's too young.

missingmumxox pretty much sums it up for me.

scotchtikidoll, there's a difference between a teacher talking something through with a group of children that s/he has assessed as being able to cope with it, and us just flinging our kids in front of 18+ films. Unless I've missed it, there is no suggestion that these kids are being shown graphic images of any sort.

Slightly sideways, but I'd bet many, many of those 8-year-olds in the class are already playing hyper-violent, hyper-realistic, 18+ computer games. Mine still isn't allowed to, but he's been one of the few in his peer group not allowed to play, eg, Call Of Duty from quite a young age. (If you don't think this is happening amongst your kid's peer group, you are wrong.) I'd much rather children are being introduced to the concept of violence as a moral wrong, by a teacher in a controlled environment, rather than the current state of affairs for many 8 year olds, which is violence and torture as entertainment, with the child cast as the perpetrator, not the victim.

Yanbu, it's not age appropriate, too much detail.

Why use shock tactics with an 8 year old?

It depends on how it was dealt with before the assembly.

I do hope all these people so desperate to protect their children from the realities of what happens to some people their age are equally careful about the computer games they play, the books they read and the films they watch........

I would be ok with it. I was annoyed when my DS1 learnt about Africa and there was a focus on SA but no mention of apartheid. These things are important and like others I think the teacher will have put it into context.

Yes I would be fine with ir knowkedge is power teaches children empathy, but if you dont want your child hearing or reading about violence against children then withdraw them from the assembly its your right to do so if you think they are too young,

Why would anyone not be Hakluyt?

I do hope all these people so desperate to protect their children from the realities of what happens to some people their age are equally careful about the computer games they play, the books they read and the films they watch........
I can't speak for everyone, but yes, I am.
QueenAnne, I'd be annoyed at kids of 8 learning about South Africa and not learning about apartheid, but I would not need them to roleplay the part of a child being necklaced.

Oh my post looks snippy and pompous didnt mean to be I just mesnt if you think theuy are too young take it up with the school

Well you daughter already knows it does happen so what difference does it make if you stop her from doing the assembly?

I can see your point though. I think in situations like this parents should have perhaps been made aware of the upcoming topic (in the same way they do with Sex Ed. Lessons) so that parents could have had the option to withdraw their child if they didn't feel comfortable with what would be discussed/taught.

This is more than age appropriate awareness.

I wouldn't have a problem, I'd be very proud of dd if she was reading this out.

If you just go on this thread alone then it seems pretty obvious that many people wouldn't like it and many wouldn't mind, as teachers we should go down the middle road, so no it shouldn't be used in an assembly. If parents want to go into that detail themselves then they can, but at that age it shouldn't be forced on them, I'm surprised at her school tbh.

What ages are the children listening to the assembly?