From a Green country....a big huge!

Hi, This is Julia, from Costa Rica.
Thank you so much for this important space.
My country is a little piece of land betwen Nicaragua ( our north) and Panamá ( our south). We are part of a more big territory Centroamérica that includes: Guatemala, Belica, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua , Costa Rica & Panamá...and if you want you can add México and is Mesoamérica: the land of aztecas, mayas and others ancient cultures that we have in our genetic map and all places that you find here.
This country is new...We have just two hundred years of indpendent and republican life...and this in the life of a country is small. ¿ What do you think?
But, in the past ( excuse my english, my lenguage is spanish) we was a territory for native people that understood the importance of build bridges betwen cultures...
We have here a mistery...the stone big and completely rounds perfect espheric forms...Recent studies says that this stones are in a place that was a spiritual center for all the neigborhoods...
I dont´t know if this is true, but sounds like music.
My country has a pacific and friendly history, but is changig...but this is another history...and if you can read this words...place, rest....


If you want my photographic job, you can access to El Salón de Belleza , that is a gallery of women portratit with their words. I have my personal blog too calls Julia Ardón, a space for friendship between nicas y ticos: Ticaragua, women themes in Nosotras Juntas and a Magazine of free words Por La Boca Vive el Pez. ( arts, culture, political things and actuality)

New Poll: Troop withdrawal timetable

Margaret Becket, the UK foreign secretary announced this week that British troops could be withdrawn from Iraq as early as next spring. What do you think? Is it too soon? Not soon enough? Should it include Afghanistan?

Vote in the poll which you will find in the sidebar, and air your opinion by leaving a comment here.


ps: you can find the result of the last poll (Labour leadership) in the post below.

Labour Leader Poll results

I promised this a while ago, but as often happens, life got in the way of this post. Anyhow, better late than never, here are the results from the worldwide opinions Labour leadership poll:

Gordon Brown:

22%

John Reid:

22%

Jack Straw:

0%

Someone else (leave your suggestion in a comment):

33%

A younger politician (leave your suggestion in a comment):

22%

Someone else wins with 33% of the vote. But who else? Commenting is still open for you to share your opinion, so lets hear it!

Parents 'powerless to bring up their children' | UK News | The Observer

Many parents have lost confidence in how to bring up their children properly and feel inadequate, isolated and unsupported in coping with the pressures of modern family life, the government has warned. Mothers and fathers often feel 'disempowered' as parents, and find it particularly difficult to enforce rules so their child does not misbehave, according to Beverley Hughes, the Minister for Children and Families.

Source: Parents 'powerless to bring up their children' | UK News | The Observer
   First let me say that I'm not buying into a kind of "Daily Mail" alarmist, "oh my God-our children are out of control and society is crumbling" bullshit. We're talking about a minority here, although possibly an increasing one. And to a certain extent I'm being deliberately provocative.
   So why would this be? Could it be because parents are concentrating on other things, rather than bringing up their children?
   I'm not talking about parents that go out to work. I realise that people have to make a living. What I mean is that when parents are at home are they spending their time raising their children? Or are they so self-obsessed that all they're worried about is their own needs and if that that means parking the children in front of some mindless cack on the T.V. or turning a blind eye when they're roaming the streets shoplifting, tying fireworks to cats and gobbing at people, then so be it.
   We've all read the horror stories about children pushed out of the door in the mornings and left to their own devices - "Get out from under my feet. Go out and play!" With no boundaries or regulation set on their behaviour children will grow up to do exactly as they please with no thought or regard for the consequences of the actions or for effect they have on others. And what happens when children like this reach child-rearing age and have kids of their own? Will they ensure that their offspring grow up with any kind of social conscience? Will they hell! They've never considered anyone's needs of feelings other than their own and they won't start with their own children.
   By the law of averages not every child will grow up to be an "'orrible little scroat". You'll get a fair proportion of the kids growing up to be decent people but with no parenting skills at all because they were shown none when they were growing up. Hence the problem - reasonable people with no clue how to set boundaries for the kids or how to enforce those that they do set.
   When did this vicious cycle start? Although there's always been "disaffected youth", it only seemed to seep into the public consciousness that children were starting to run out of control in the late 70s and early 80's. This suggests to me that the parents of children who were born in the late 60's and early 70's may have started the rot. Could it be that the Hippies are to blame? Anti-establishment, anti-authority and stoned out of their minds, what did they teach their children? And what have their children taught theirs?
   When you have a child you have a duty to parent. Yes, go out to work if you must but when you get home - parent! Interact with your children, teach them how to behave, to respect other people before they expect respect themselves. If this means you can't go out to the pub/club/whatever - tough! If you want a full social calendar - don't have kids. if you want to concentrate on your own wants and needs - don't have kids. If you want kids - parent, even if it means learning how to.
(This post will also appear at Solid Gone, my personal blog.)