Why is the UK such a bad place to be a child?

[Rantum]

Unicef's survey of 21 industrialised countries looked at 40 indicators including family relationships, health and poverty and the UK came BOTTOM for the well-being of children. We are a country of relative wealth so why are we failing our children?

i think a lot of it is to do with housing

Exactly, Fio, because the pervasive attitude, and this is true of the US as well, is that if you are poor it is ALL YOUR FAULT. And you deserve it. And that not being poor is as simple as 'pulling yourself up by the bootstraps', knuckling down and working harder. Work as the panacea to all ills.

This attitude even extends to issues like mental health/depression, substance abuse, etc.

It's all your fault you're unhappy.

I even get this drivel off my mother, which is why I rarely talk to her about my PND.

yes expat

you have depression and its your own fault

snap out of it

cheer up

get a grip

etc

its ignorance imo

same with being poor

get a job

get off your lazy arse

its just ignorance

NP,
You are spot on. I'd say a huge part of it is the housing situation here.

how are you anyway expat?

I'm allright, naily! Thanks for asking.

I agree housing is a huge problem, the lovely Town I grew up in had acres of farmland where we as children used to spend hours playing/ picking peas/ catching tadpoles in the stream...That land has now been spoiled by 100's of expensive new build houses & flats, TESCO, 2 new schools.......oh & one very small cheap play park!

i was meaning the cramped, damp, cold, dark flats that low income families are expected to live in for a small fortune

New housing can be great though - it is an issue of design, and thinking through how to give a place a sense of community and a sense of having a centre.

I think one of the greatest ills in the US/North America is that many places don't have a centre. Even if you don't go there often, i think it's good for your mental health to have an awareness of where you are and where the middle of it is. It might sound odd but I really believe this - it was one of the things I found hardest about living in Canada. There was no focus, no being near somewhere or away from somewhere, no community. Just strip malls and housing.

And where exactly are these teens and young people supposed to hang out?

If there's no garden, no outdoor space, they live in an overcrowded flat, no community centre, etc.?

At each others' 'houses'? They already have to share a bedroom with at least one other sibling, and often times you have other family members using the living room as a bedroom. Where's all this space where they're supposed to hang out?

Because they do need and deserve that.

Everyone does.

I don't know about your area, snowleopard, but here, ALL the new housing is flats. Towers, even. With little to NO outdoor living space as the premium is on a place to park your car.

I'd reckon greater than 80% of that is bought to let, 6 month, short-assured tenancies.

Not exactly laying down the foundations for communities.

yes expat

they all advertise a postage size 'balcony'

with bars wide enough for a small child to hop through

communal 'garden' costs £100's to pay for soemone to cut the grass on TOP of your enormous mortgage

And be very aware that, in Edinburgh, the owners of those flats in traditional tenements are responsible for all communal repairs. If they cannot agree on a vendor and price, which happens frequently because the majority of these are bought to let and it's hard to get hold of landlords who live abroad, then the council will repair and bill. And go to court to do so if necessary.

Earlier this month, owners in one stair in the New Town were facing bills of £50,000 each for dangerously crumbling masonry and roofing.

ScottishThistle would this be a certain Duloch Park you are talking about here?

MrsSpoon...How did you guess???

expat i lived in a tenement in easter rd and loved it

all the neighbours were fab and every one did their bit, cleaning the stair, replacing lightbulbs etc

we had to get the roof fixed and we all did our bit

had a great garden at the back too

i still miss that stair

ROFL ScottishThistle! There can only be one Duloch Park (or Tesco Town as we like to call it) and you described it so well!

Presume you don't live locally anymore?

duloch park is pretty massive, ive been there and get lost

It's probably more common for owners to occupy in some areas than others.

Two of my work colleagues are the only owners who occupy in their stairs.

They live in traditional tenements, which, sadly, are usually the only flats that offer a communal garden anymore.

They're rare in new build flats because people want off-street parking.

One of these colleagues retired and decided to sell up so he and his wife could move back to East Lothian, to a bungalow.

He bought the place, a main-door, ground floor falt, in Bruntfield, in 1983.

It sold for nearly £400,000.

Needless to say, he was able to buy the bungalow for cash.

I live in London, but my Mother lives local to TESCO Town!...Such a shame & expands in size every time I'm home!

I'm in a different part of Edinburgh expat. I actually find this v interesting because I live in terraced housing with very little outdoor space and yet we do have a strong sense of community here (colony housing) - and i have trouble working out what makes it so different. But you do see blocks of flats that actually have plenty of space round them - but it's all made into grim landscaped bits of grass that can't actually be used for anything. The same space could be made into a skate park, play park, a communal herb and veg garden that anyone who liked gardening would be free to use, and a nice communal flower garden with seating - places where people could sit, work or play outside together. Yes, in some cases they would get trashed but I still think it would be worth a try. There is actually the space, it's just badly used.

NP, wouldn't be the first time I have lost Tesco in amongst the new houses they fling them up so quick.

Ooops, sorry ScottishThistle.