8 Sept 2010

THAT'S BETTER.

AAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH.

Hear that? That's the sound of me screaming. If you listen carefully you may well also hear the sound of hair being ripped out BY THE ROOTS and if you stick around long enough ........ Well, you may also hear the sound of  a computer being thrown across room.

Not usually a violent person - honestly - enough is enough, I've had it up to hear (picture me indicating the top of my head)

For the last week/10 days or so Pooter has been a very naughty boy indeed - or is it Pooter? Therein lies the problem, despite several diagnostic/virus checks we can't get to the bottom of who is to blame. Is it Pooter? Is it blogger? Is it FaceBook? Is it internet explorer? Your guess is probably as good, nay, better then mine.

The problem? I'm constantly being disrupted in my attempts to blog/farm - either a message comes up saying 'this tab is closing' OR worse still a message saying the 'programme is unresponsive' and I need to close, clicking on an error report button  - AAAAGGGGGHHHHHhhhhhh.

Anyway, (fingers crossed, disruptions aside) I thought I might as well end this post as I started it ........ with a good old rant.

"Vandal, 4, must say sorry to his victims," read a recent article in the Daily Telegraph.

What?

A boy aged four is believed to be the youngest person in Britain to be dealt with under a RESTORATIVE JUSTICE SCHEME (RJS)which involves criminals apologising to victims.
The child who admitted causing criminal damage last year, could not be taken to court as he is under 10, the age of criminal responsibility.
Instead of being given a ticking off, Norfolk police put the boy through the RJS. It meant he had to apologise to his victim and make amends.
More than 500 children aged under 12 were dealt with in Norfolk under the process last year. Norfolk police said any action required the consent of a parent.

Now I have several problems with this. Firstly at aged 4 what an awful tag to be carrying, to be officially known (and named?) as a vandal. For goodness sake aged 4 does the child even fully understand what a vandal is? A thorny, much debated topic - do children know right from wrong at such a tender age? I have very mixed feelings about the whole debate, which I won't bore you with, EXCEPT to say that I largely believe we are probably not born knowing right from wrong but need to learn it. Which brings me to my next point. Where are the parents in this? Surely it is firstly and foremost THEIR duty to deal with the situation which, I would suggest, should include the child apologising to his 'victim'. At what cost to this boy (and financially) did this end up going through such a scheme?

Rant over. What do you think?

24 comments:

(Diane) Bibliophile By the Sea said...

Last time that happened here (last year) our computer died....:( Hope that isn't happening to you?

serendipity_viv said...

Mmmm - that is a tough one. After teaching 4 to 5 years olds I would say that some are more aware than others of what is right or wrong, so it really does depend on the child. It worries me that more and more children are committing crimes and I wonder how it will end up.

Lily said...

Oh dear, don't even get me started! The idea that a four-year-old ought to be held accountable for his "crime" is assinine. Aged four is well below the age of reason. However, said child's parents ought to be above it. What I don't understand is how a four-year-old child is left to his own devices long enough to vandalize, where were the parents? AND why on earth do they need the law to tell them how to parent? If that be the case, the ones to be put through the RJS ought to be the parents. And then, there ought to be consequences for repeat offenses. As they say, anyone can have a child, but everyone is not capable of being a parent.

Anonymous said...

Computers: I’m no expert but, “not responding” and “closing” are often due to some kind of overload. Could be your carrying too much old stuff along with you – try CCleaner (a free program available from “Filehippo” on the internet) to clean up your hard drive and get rid of a lot of old garbage.
You might want to give Mozilla Firefox (I like it better than IE) or some other browser a try too.
Good luck.

All the best, Boonie

Jen said...

Do you know how to defrag your C drive?

That's what I was thinking. Where were the parents? If they left him with a babysitter, the babysitter should be held responsible. If the parents let him wander off, it's on them.

chitra said...

Few months I faced a problem like yours.It's really frustrating when work is hampered. Hope everything becomes o.k

Kelly said...

I agree with Jen...I think degragging would be a good start. Also, do you regularly dump the cache of temporary internet files, etc.? That can improve your computer's "health".

As for that child.... 4 is awfully young, yet some are certainly more aware than others of right/wrong vs. consequences. Definitely the responsibility of the parents at that age, though! (imo)

Gina said...

Oh goodness...here's hoping the Pooter or the gremlins residing within it right now work themselves out soon....computer problems, blech!
As for the RJS...yeah, four years old....as a general standing, I'd say no, probably not old enough to really know what they were doing....but then again, it DOES depend on the child too... something to think about. Thanks for the smile AND topic to think on...

Sharon Galligar Chance said...

Tracy, LOVE the new look of your blog, or have I just not been here in a while! Sorry you are having computer troubles...I did too a week or so ago, and had to get a whole new one! Hope yours recovers! And thanks for the good wishes!

Mary (Bookfan) said...

I made the switch to a MacBook over two years ago and haven't had any computer issues since then. I love my MacBook :D

Re: RJS - My question was the same as yours: Where are the parents in this???

SG said...

I agree with you. A 4 year old would not even know why he/she is being punished.

Anonymous said...

Have you tried down loading Google Chrome...I had lots of trouble with my Laptop...I thought it was the laptop but I down loaded Google Chrome and it works fine now...Firefox is another one..Internet Explorer sometimes sucks...

BURIED IN BOOKS said...

Sorry about the computer troubles.
As for the child I have taught my children right from wrong from the beginning but at four, I would not hold them responsible for vandalism. I'd be pissed off if they threw my computer off the desk. But that's a temper tantrum, not vandalism. And he'd better apologize! But I don't know what kind of vandalism he caused he's still too young for any kind of juvenile record of any kind. And his parents are responsible.

On to third topic- Did you receive email about Banned Books Week with all the websites? My post is going up soon. Just want to do a little more research.

Heather

Valerie said...

I understand your computer frustrations! Mine is getting older and older and slower by the day.

As for that 4 year old -- I'd need more information before weighing in. Exactly what was the vandalism? Was there bad parental attitude? Definitely something to think about!

Betty Manousos said...

Aww so sorry, hope everything becomes okay. I had a lot of troubles with my laptop the other day. Computer problems really suck.

Warm hugs!
B xx

Revd. Neal Terry said...

I think there is an error somewhere between the keyboard and the chair...

Anonymous said...

I HATE computer problems.

Especially because I'm the computer repair person in the house.

No, make that the extended family.

Oddyoddyo13 said...

I think you deserve to rant some more! Messed up computers are the BANE OF MY EXISTENCE.

No joke.

They are.

And I think that four is WAY too young to be labeled as a criminal. When I was four I drew on the wall with crayons-but nobody ever told me it was wrong! See my point?

BookQuoter said...

I think your pooter is sick, hope it recovers, otherwise, it is really frustrating, I know what you mean!!

Pam said...

Computer problems stink. My internet explorer causes my pooter to do that often. Ugh!

What did the kid vandalize? I mean, at four he probably couldn't have done a whole lot of damage.

Alison Can Read said...

How weird...how can a 4 year old even be accused of criminal damage. I can't imagine he knew what he was doing.

On another note, I'd love if you posted a link to my Giver review on your upcoming banned books post. Thanks :-)

Do they ban books in the UK?

Jenners said...

I would need to know more about this case before making a judgment ... but what kind of vandal could a 4-year-old really be????? Writing with crayon on a wall????

And I would do a thorough virus scan if I were you. And I personally HATE Internet Explorer ... I prefer Mozilla Firefox myself. Good luck fixing the computer.

Misha said...

I understand your sentiments. Atleast 5 times, I feel like smashing my laptop and throwing it on someone. I hate computer problems!!
Btw, try using google chrome. Its much faster. I personally dislike Internet explorer.

Heather said...

I'm not even going to touch the issue of the four year old. ok, I will say that my kids at that age had a pretty good idea of right and wrong.
As for the computer, do what we do, blame the weather.