What to do with young girls?

[Oneeyedvic]

Two stories from today:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8227443.s tm

UK teenage girls 'worst drunks'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8230844.stm

'Many girls' abused by boyfriends

The NSPCC says many teenage girls are in abusive relationships

A third of teenage girls suffer sexual abuse in a relationship and a quarter experience violence at the hands of their boyfriends, a survey suggests.

Nearly 90% of 1,400 girls aged 13 to 17 had been in intimate relationships, the NSPCC and University of Bristol found.


Any thoughts on how these two behaviours can be changed?

[andy-hughes]

With regard to the second part of your question - again education of children is the key to this problem.

Children need to be given a sense of self-worth and respect for themselves, and others, which is lacking, mainly because a generation of parents have grown up without the concepts of repsect and caring.

Change that, and the rerst of the issues will follow, and abuse will stop. We are a nasty verbally violent society who don;t care for each other - is it any wonder that people will simply take what they want, even if that includes gratification - the examples are all around us - including our so-called government.

Stop the rot at nursery age - and that will begin by getting qualified staff to educate small children - and that will start when the government stop allowing minimum wages as the norm for nursery nurses.

It comes down to attitude and money and education - in that order.

[ludwig]

I agree with alot of what andy-hughes says. I was listening to a program where some french teenagers were explaining that the loss of self-control that goes with being drunk is seen as extremely uncool over there, so it's something teenagers do their best to avoid.

Here, it seems to be the other way around. God knows why. Attitudes do change though - think about how the attitude to drink driving has changed over the last 30 years. Ok, it didn't happen overnight but peoples perception of binge drinking could go the same way if the right measures are taken.

[jno]

it's not just Britain, it's northern Europe. Long, cold nights (at least in winter), beer or spirits, vs warm climates in southern Europe, outdoor living, wine. A lot of it is simply geographical, and you can't change geography. Best news I know of is all these pubs closing because of the recession, but supermarkets selling cut-rate booze is probably making up the shortfall.

[123everton]

Jake you missed the point I was making that raising the price won't change anything because it is already illegal for them to drink, theft of alcohol is a whole other issue as theft is also illegal.
I've nothing against the new licensing laws, the howls were deafening when the pubs had to close in the afternoons (and stay behinds commonplace) Andy's right about our alcohol based leisure industry, we should do what China does (they like a drink too) their town centres are bustling in the evening right up until 2230 when the shops close, all the families and most of the workers go home, leaving only the offys, nightclubs and K.T.Vs open.