Friday 1 November 2013

Ain't Misbehavin'

If the 'expert' on The World Today is to be believed parents need to start working on their children's mental health before birth, (possibly not merely before their children's birth, but before their own too, who knows), if they really want to do a good job. After all, not obeying rules and generally being difficult is no longer bad behaviour; it's a mental illness called 'conduct disorder':

I think I may be in the early stages of another mental illness - it's called disgusted-by-the-contemporary-world disorder. I'm not sure if there's a cure.

4 comments:

  1. You’ve got it bad, and that ain’t good.

    It’s chronic and incurable, but if you visit your shrink weekly and every morning take the happy pills prescribed by your GP, you will make it through to your dotage. Carpe diem.

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    1. For some reason that first sentence - its rhythm possibly - makes me think of this, John Peel, the English radio person's favourite ever song:

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PinCg7IGqHg

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  2. Astounding. I once had a conference with a parent who said her child had been diagnosed with "oppositional defiance disorder. " "In other words," the mom said, "My daughter is a sh#$head." At least she was being honest if not fully taking the blame for not teaching her child well.

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    1. I refuse to take blame for all the behaviour of my children either. But I did try to persuade them to have good manners - good manners are the lifeblood of society, like oil in a car. Sadly, if society were a car at the moment, I think the head gasket might be on the point of blowing (brought to you by the department of overextended analogies)

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