The Russians love their children too

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NIKON D70 - 1/1000 sec, f3.8 at 27mm

The other night on TV3 News there was an item about a Chinese Gymnastics training school where very young children were ostensibly being forced to train all day and all night. They apparently had wicked coaches who never, ever praised them and even beat them. There was a lingering shot at the end of a kid doing a handstand up against the wall and crying for whatever reason.

I can never tell if these sort of items are slanted and filmed or edited out of context to push the barrow of whoever is trying to get their message out. I also don't know if those kids were there willingly. At the time it was sad and a little depressing to think that it's going on. While our kids are the beach, or playing guitar (have you practiced yet tonight Sarah Giblet?) playing with their Barbies or riding their bikes, there is little Chinese kids slogging their guts out for the evil republic.

We have a new neighbor. Bear with me, it gets relevant soon. Actually they are not really neighbors. From my office I can see their house over the backyard of the old biddy's place right next door. Some evenings I sit here blogging and more often than I'm comfortable with really, there is lots of crying and screaming from a little kid or a couple of little kids over at that house. There is lots of yelling by adult voices. Some nights there is lots of stomping around and door slamming and the like. Who knows if the kids are just badly behaved boys or the father is an alcoholic wife-beating psychopathic child abuser. I guess I could take it all out of context and report them to Cyfs. On the other hand I could be accused of not doing anything when it all turns to custard. At least the media will be able to report that the neighbors just stood by and did nothing while the violence was perpetrated.

I guess we're lucky to have a nice settled household with good kids and no desire to win Olympic Gold on the uneven bars.

Tonight's photo is a chunk of rock by the beach at Mahurangi Regional Park. We went there Sunday for the afternoon and it was most pleasant. We had a picnic lunch, played with the kids, went for a couple of walks, the giblets had a swim and we had an ice cream on the way home. Perfect.

Hopefully this post isn't as erroneous as yesterdays. I used a spell checker and I read it twice.

Post Meta

Posted: Tuesday, 22 November, 2005 19:00

Captured: 2005:11:20 13:01:02

Add your own comment

  • I didn't notice even 1 error! Good job Dave.
    Darren - Tuesday, 22 November, 2005 21:47
  • At the Australia Insititute of Sport I saw 6 year olds who were shipped off to be professional gymnastic chicks...people shouldn't have kids if they plan to send them away. Nearly perfect post Dave....acronyms should have capital letters.
    Dinny - Tuesday, 22 November, 2005 22:03
  • I often wonder if the neighbors can hear us when the boys fight, or when I have to raise my voice to get a parental thought across to their pre-teenage brains. Guess we'll find out someday???? hehe
    Jody - Wednesday, 23 November, 2005 4:17
  • I think you are safe. Your houses are so hermetically sealed to keep out the cold that it also keeps in the screaming. Yours and theirs I guess ;-)
    Dave - Wednesday, 23 November, 2005 8:06
  • That's one thing I noticed when I moved here. Houses are jam packed onto lots. I can see into one of my neighbors bedrooms, and another can see right into our bathroom through the skylight. There's no privacy...and now that it's summer and the windows are open (because no one has central air conditioning) we'll be able to hear every little peep from the giblets on both sides of us. I can't wait. One more error Dave but certainly an improvement over yesterday. "While our kids are AT the beach"
    Karen Serville - Wednesday, 23 November, 2005 13:00

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