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Joanna Lumley criticises modern attitudes to raising children

Actress claims British children today are growing up lazy and badly educated with lapsed morals

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Posted: 1 March 2011
by Kimberley Smith
Joanna lumley
Joanna Lumley's been speaking out on modern children

Actress and campaigner Joanna Lumley has caused a stir with controversial comments about modern children and education in the Radio Times.

The mum-of-one and grandma-of-two, claims society has changed for the worse and that today’s British children are being raised with lower morals than previous generations.

“We are very slack with our moral codes for children these days. Nowadays, children find it laughably amusing to shoplift and steal,” Joanna lamented. “We smile when they download information from the internet and lazily present it as their own work.”

Joanna also negatively compared modern British children to their counterparts in Africa and China, saying we did not trust our children with the kind of responsibilities other cultures saw as normal. “We don’t respect education. Not at all. Not like in Africa or China, where it is hugely respected,” she said.

Her comments echo Jamie Oliver, who recently criticised British teenagers, calling them “wet”.

“I am an employer of 350 chefs, and when it comes to the 16 to 20-year-olds we see at the moment, I’ve never experienced such a wet generation,” Jamie complained.

Do you think we’re raising our children too soft? Or is Joanna just out of touch with modern parenting?


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So what do you think?

daisynova
I agree with both Jamie and Joanna about today's parenting skills to a point however it isn't fair to tar every parent with the same brush. I and many of my friends try to bring our children up with good morals, a good respect for education and a respect for the older generation. However the problem we have is that not all parents have these same values. It is difficult telling your child to say please and thank you when other parents don't force their children to be polite. My son sees other children doing things and he thinks it is acceptable behaviour and then acts surprised, rightly so, when I tell him off. In the same vein, it is difficult trying to teach your child to have values and morals when other adults don't display these same features. I find that adults often don't say please or thank you to a child - so how are they meant to learn??? About 2 years ago
toes10
Please and Thankyou are very important words, I use them and I expect my children to use them aswell. About 2 years ago
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