Parent Pages new website

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Once upon a time, most little boys and girls would put a train set or a doll at the top of their list for Father Christmas.

By ANDY DOLAN
Last updated at 2:57 AM on 25th October 2010

But now children as young as five are asking for gadgets such as iPhones and iPads.

In a survey, almost one in four children said their most wanted Christmas present was Apple’s iPhone 4 smartphone, the web-surfing iPad media player or iPod MP3 music player. While demand for the gadgets is greatest among older children, with 66 per cent between the ages of 13 and 16 putting the high-tech products at the top of their Christmas wish list, 17 per cent of five to eight-year-olds and half of nine to 12-year-olds did the same. ….Continue Reading

Source: BBC NEWS

Singer Celine Dion has given birth to twin boys at a hospital in Florida.

24 October 2010 Last updated at 09:28 GMT

Dion, 42, and husband Rene Angelil, 68, are said to be “thrilled” to have the as yet unnamed children, who were born by Caesarean section on Saturday.

The babies were reportedly born healthy but were premature and will spend the next few days in an incubator.

The Canadian-born singer, due to return to Las Vegas in March for a three-year residency, already has a nine-year-old son with Angelil.….Continue Reading

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It may not come as a surprise for many parents to hear that children are getting older younger and losing interest in traditional toys such as board games or Lego. But how are manufacturers adapting to this new market?

Thursday, 21 October 2010

Research published October 19 by market intelligence company Euromonitor International found that the shortening of age brackets, e.g. childhood, has dramatically changed the way children approach play. Amongst girls the main interests are music, clothes, make-up, talent shows and celebrities, whilst boys are becoming more drawn towards computer games at younger ages.

As a result of this move away from traditional games toy manufacturers are increasingly expanding into the field of video games. Hasbro has developed monopoly for the Wii games console; Lego and Playmobil have also launched video games based around their product.….Continue Reading

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Labour’s specialist schools programme is effectively being axed as part of sweeping public sector cuts

By Graeme Paton, Education Editor
Published: 5:36PM BST 19 Oct 2010

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Oxford applicants are being asked to assess the academic merits of Coronation Street and invent a new musical instrument as part of university interviews, it emerged today.

By Graeme Paton, Education Editor
Published: 2:55PM BST 19 Oct 2010

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The pupil premium for disadvantaged students may be fair, but the way the money is raised to fund it must also be fair.

Mark Corney
Tuesday 19 October 2010

Tomorrow, the spending review will set out what will be in the Department for Education’s coffers, or taken from them, and we will find out precisely how the government intends to fund its planned pupil premium for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Last week reports suggested the government would cut “non-essential” education projects, including youth clubs, after-school music and art to help fund the pupil premium. We must hope that non-school budgets such as Sure Start, childcare and youth services will not also suffer.….Continue Reading

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The cost of being a grandparent is £50,352, a survey has suggested, highlighting how those in retirement are forced to keep on picking up the bill not just for their children but their children’s children.

By Harry Wallop, Consumer Affairs Editor
Published: 7:00AM BST 19 Oct 2010

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Thousands of teaching posts will be cut despite the Government’s attempts to protect school budgets.

By Richard Garner, Education Editor

Four out of every five councils are planning for redundancies in their central education services because of the squeeze on public services. This will threaten the extra support staff drafted in to help with teaching numeracy and literacy, peripatetic staff such as music teachers, and improvement teams sent in to help out when schools have failed their inspections.

Some councils such as Birmingham, Bolton and Haringey in London have already given warning that staff jobs are at risk.….Continue Reading

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A millionaire couple who let their son banish them to their bedroom while he held a party at their upmarket Florida estate were shocked when police knocked on the door to tell them there were 600 teenagers getting drunk downstairs.

By MAIL FOREIGN SERVICE
Last updated at 2:55 AM on 15th October 2010

Officers arrived at the $7.5 million home of construction tycoon Shlomo Rasabi and his wife Jeannie, in Boca Raton, to find ‘numerous’ youngsters passed out on the front lawn and others throwing up in the street – four of them so drunk that they had to be taken to hospital by ambulance.

According to the police report, an ‘abundant amount of alcoholic beverages’ were on hand, despite the guests being below the legal drinking age of 21, and loud music was blaring.….Continue Reading

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Is life with your teenager an endless round of arguments, door slamming, sulks and foot-stomps? Take hope from these tips for stressed-out parents. By Tanith Carey

By Tanith Carey 14/10/2010

The most common causes of conflict with teenagers often seem trivial – messiness, poor time-keeping, and listening to music in their room too loud.

Sound familiar? According to behaviour expert Charlie Taylor, who runs a special school in London, fights between parents and their teenagers are sparked not so much by what they do, but by the attitude they take.

“What is really causing the problem is not the mess, but the consistent refusal of the teenager to accept that there is a problem, or to do anything about it,” explains Charlie.….Continue Reading

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Department for Education must find between 10% and 15% in cuts over four years.

Polly Curtis, Whitehall correspondent
Tuesday 12 October 2010 20.01 BST

The government plans to cut “non-essential” education projects including youth clubs, after-school music and art activities and child safety projects to meet its commitment to increase funding for disadvantaged children under a pupil premium.

Michael Gove’s education department will make deep cuts to £13.9bn of centrally-funded programmes in next week’s spending review to help pay for top-up payments for poorer pupils. The pupil premium will form the centrepiece of the government’s claim that the cuts are progressive.….Continue Reading

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Music is no longer the number one way for young people to define themselves as they embrace social networks such as Facebook, according to an Australian survey released Monday.

Tuesday, 12 October 2010

Asked “What defines you?” the most popular response from young adults was “my friends”, pipping music for the first time in the seven-year history of the annual Urban Market Research study.

“That came to us as a bit of a surprise,” said Dion Appel, chief executive of the LifeLounge Group, which commissioned the survey of more than 1,750 Australians aged 16 to 30.….Continue Reading

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A musician who lost both arms in a childhood accident and plays the piano with his toes has won China’s Got Talent, performing his version of James Blunt’s love song You’re Beautiful to a packed audience at the Shanghai Stadium.

Published: 6:16PM BST 11 Oct 2010

All three judges on the show Sunday praised 23-year-old Liu Wei for his determination, urging him to keep on pursuing his dreams, and the Beijing native said he would try, quipping, “At least I have a pair of perfect legs.”….Continue Reading

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We asked you to tell us what to write. Today, we present the beginnings of a kids’ films library, with the 50 best family films by our critics, plus Michael Hann’s own top choices

Michael Hann Monday 11 October 2010 14.50 BST

Why isn’t there a recommended library of films for children, was the question @AdvancedDriver posed when we asked you to suggest the articles you wanted to read. “The recommendations should be thought-provoking and/or entertaining,” @AdvancedDriver requested, though experience of sitting my pair in front of a movie suggests that if it’s not entertaining, then no thoughts will be provoked. Now, this is a subject on which we’re going to need your help, so while I’ll start the ball rolling with some films that have worked in my home, please let me know the films that have captivated your kids. Surprising and unusual nominations will be especially welcomed, and if we can get a decent longlist of movies, we’ll assemble them into a feature for Film & Music in a few weeks’ time.….Continue Reading

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The sublime tone of the trained choirboy – distinctive, precious and irreplaceable – has enchanted untold generations.

Published: 10:15AM BST 10 Oct 2010

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Last February, a music teacher called Steve Smith turned up at St Ambrose College in Hale Barns, Cheshire.

By JAN MOIR
Last updated at 8:54 AM on 8th October 2010

For his day’s supply work, he was dressed in a grey Jeff Banks suit and a black open-necked shirt — untucked at the waist and sans tie. If clothes could sing, Mr Smith’s would ­definitely be humming some generic dad rock. And if clothes could speak, Mr Smith’s apparel would be saying: ‘Hey, I’m a groovy guy; not a fuddy-duddy at all. Check me out, kids. Woo hoo.’

However, the pupils at St Ambrose never did get the chance to see Mr Smith’s nice clothes, or to appreciate his teaching skills.  For despite the fact that his suit and shirt would be perfectly respectable in every walk of life, particularly in the Walk Of Life as performed by Dire Straits, the teacher never did make it to the classroom. Mr Smith’s outfit was, quite literally, too cool for school. ….Continue Reading

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At 18, the pianist Benjamin Grosvenor is already hailed as a major talent. How does he do it? Hard work, he tells Jessica Duchen.

Friday, 8 October 2010

There are child prodigies, and then there’s Benjamin Grosvenor. He first made the headlines when he won the piano section of the 2004 BBC Young Musician of the Year competition aged only 11. As prodigies go, Grosvenor was the real McCoy: he astonished everyone not only with his ability to zip around the instrument, but also with the extraordinary maturity of his musical understanding.

In the end, the competition’s top prize went to the violinist Nicola Benedetti, who at 16 was ready for stardom. Grosvenor stayed away from the limelight for a while. He made debuts at the Royal Albert Hall and Carnegie Hall aged all of 13, but avoided the easy route of quick celebrity and burnout that often ambushes excessively gifted children.….Continue Reading

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That’s a musical note isn’t it, say clueless generation.

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 8:12 AM on 7th October 2010

Forget about explaining the birds and the bees to children.

It seems young adults are the ones who really need help understanding the facts of life.

According to a survey of childless Britons aged 18 to 25, 20 per cent think an umbilical cord is a musical note – and have no idea that it actually connects a baby in the womb to its mother. ….Continue Reading

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A paediatrician has been charged with neglect over claims that she left her three-year-old outside a bar on a freezing evening.

By MIKE LARKIN
Last updated at 8:29 AM on 5th October 2010

Suzanne Wills, 37, and her partner, Graeme Smith, who is also a doctor, were camping at a music festival when they are alleged to have left their son strapped into a bicycle trailer while they were in the hotel.

The family were at the annual folk festival on the Hebridean island of Jura. The event attracts around 200 fans.….Continue Reading

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A paediatrician and her surgeon partner have been charged with child neglect over claims they left their toddler son outside a busy bar on a chilly autumn night.

By MIKE LARKIN
Last updated at 3:36 PM on 4th October 2010

Suzanne Wills and consultant Graeme Smith are alleged to have left the three-year-old boy strapped into a bicycle trailer while they remained inside the bar.

The alleged incident happened as the family enjoyed a camping trip to a music festival on the Hebridean island of Jura last weekend. The pair face jail if found guilty. Following a complaint, the couple were quizzed by police and later charged with offences under the Children and Young Persons Act.….Continue Reading

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Teaching the young and poor to play a classical instrument can make a huge difference.

Editorial
Sunday 3 October 2010

On a list of social changes that politicians might aspire to effect in poor communities around Britain, making it cool to play the violin has not traditionally figured highly. But that probably says more about the persistent failure of political ambition than it does about the value to children of mastering a stringed instrument.….Continue Reading

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A music teacher who claimed to be off sick was caught out after boasting about her piano tour of the US on her website.

By Laura Roberts
Published: 8:30AM BST 02 Oct 2010

Source: DAILYMAIL

A talented teenage girl who plays five instruments has won top marks in her latest music exam – despite being unable to hear a single note.

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 1:37 AM on 2nd October 2010

Aimee-Louise Paddock, who is totally deaf, was inspired to take up the saxophone after watching the cartoon character Lisa Simpson play it on TV’s ‘The Simpsons.’

The 18-year-old from King’s Lynn in Norfolk also plays the flute, keyboard, piano and the guitar to a high standard. She has applied to study a four-year music degree course at the Royal Welsh College of Music in Cardiff.….Continue Reading

Source: BBC NEWS

Former X Factor runners-up JLS are to release this year’s official Children In Need single, it’s been revealed.

1 October 2010 11:00 UK

The track is called Love You More and will be released on 14 November.

The band say it’s a big honour: “It’s a special single because this is the first single that we’ve written and it’s all for a good cause.”

This year’s Children In Need appeal takes place on Friday, 19 November and helps raise money for disadvantaged young people around the UK.….Continue Reading

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Exceptionally talented children are just as likely to fail in life as succeed according to a new study.

By COLIN FERNANDEZ
Last updated at 7:39 AM on 27th September 2010

In one of the most extensive studies carried out, research found that out of 210 gifted children followed into later life, only three per cent were found to fulfil their early promise.

Professor Joan Freeman, said that of 210 children in her study, ‘maybe only half a dozen might have been what we might consider conventionally successful.’

‘At the age of six or seven, the gifted child has potential for amazing things, but many of them are caught in situations where their potentials is handicapped.’

Professor Freeman tracked the development of children who had exceptional ability in fields such as maths, art or music from 1974 to the present day.….Continue Reading

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Brave hearts and caring minds.

By CATHERINE O’ BRIEN
Last updated at 8:01 PM on 25th September 2010

The WellChild Awards, supported by YOU, recognise the courage of severely ill children and their carers.Catherine O’Brien introduces four of this year’s most inspirational winners, who will be honoured at a glittering ceremony in London tomorrow.

Winner Most Caring Child Kesia Symcox, eight

Like many little girls, Kesia Symcox likes playing with dolls, making jewellery and watching High School Musical. At home with her brothers Zack, aged ten, and Tom, aged seven, she rarely does these things. Kesia, eight, is not simply outnumbered because she is a sister, she is displaced in the pecking order as the only child in her family not having to cope with enormous health challenges.….Continue Reading

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All children will be encouraged to learn an instrument under Coalition plans to revive music in schools.

By Graeme Paton, Education Editor
Published: 2:17PM BST 24 Sep 2010

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Back by popular demand” is a phrase most of us don’t associate with contemporary opera, though this revival of Jonathan Dove’s The Adventures of Pinocchio amply justifies its use.

Tim Ashley
Monday 20 September 2010 22.21 BST

Adored at its Leeds premiere in 2007, it became a hit in Germany and the US as well as the UK, and its return to Opera North to open the new season was cheered to the rafters by a packed house.

The opera’s strengths lie in Dove’s narrative powers and in his ability to sustain a sense of genuine, if at times sinister, magic.….Continue Reading

Source: DAILYMAIL

Michael Douglas reveals the reason his family left Bermuda for New York.

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 5:47 PM on 17th September 2010

Michael Douglas has revealed his ten-year-old young son has ‘some special needs’.

The actor, 65, said he and wife Catherine Zeta-Jones decided to move from Bermuda back to New York so Dylan could get the treatment he needed.

‘One of our kids has some special needs and it was recommended he go to a special school in the New York area,’ he said, although he didn’t specify what the exact nature of the ‘special needs’ is.

The Wall Street star, who is currently undergoing chemotherapy as he battles throat cancer, said the move enabled his wife to take on the Broadway role in A Little Night Music.….Continue Reading

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In a Kathmandu recording studio, young workers sift through piles of letters from Nepalese teenagers seeking advice on everything from unrequited love and homosexuality to drug abuse and HIV.

Sunday, 12 September 2010

Two presenters in their early twenties talk animatedly into microphones as they record the latest episode of “Chatting with my Best Friend” or Saathi Sanga Manka Kura (SSMK), one of Nepal’s most listened-to radio shows.

The programme, a blend of discussion, drama and music, was launched nine years ago as part of a project funded by the UN children’s agency UNICEF to spread awareness among Nepalese teenagers about the dangers of HIV and AIDS.….Continue Reading

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Model Sophie Dahl is expecting a baby with her musician husband Jamie Cullum, a spokesman for the couple confirmed.

Saturday, 11 September 2010

A statement from the pair, released last night said: “In response to a number of recent inquiries, Jamie Cullum and Sophie Dahl are delighted to confirm that Sophie is four months pregnant.

“There will be no further comment at this time.”

Statuesque Dahl, who is the granddaughter of children’s author Roald Dahl, married jazz musician Cullum at the start of the year.

The couple celebrated their wedding at a luxurious country hotel in January after keeping the event secret from all but their closest friends and family.….Continue Reading

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The incredible video homage to 80s video games made entirely out of Lego bricks

By Niall Firth
Last updated at 5:29 PM on 10th September 2010

It took more than 1,500 hours over eight months and many thousands of Lego bricks.

But two Swedish musicians have achieved youTube fame with this animated tribute to the video games of their youth.

The animation, which lasts just over three and a half minutes, has already had more than seven million views on YouTube.….Continue Reading

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Teaching young children to recite the alphabet, memorise nursery rhymes or play musical instruments may be a waste of time, according to research.

By Graeme Paton, Education Editor
Published: 2:11PM BST 10 Sep 2010

Source: BBC NEWS

South African artist Emile Jansen has embraced the challenge of reaching out to vulnerable kids with the help of hip hop.

Wednesday, 8 September 2010 22:20 UK

Since the 1980s, he has been a leading force in the musical movement and now he is using his talents to help children in the Cape Town flats neighbourhood where he grew up.….Continue Reading

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From Ella Fitzgerald to Vampire Weekend, help is at hand.

By Helen Brown
Published: 5:40PM BST 08 Sep 2010

Infants rejoice in silly noises, and while Ella Fitzgerald sounds slickly sultry, twisting her lips around this lot, you won’t. Go-go-sha-gong-gong, chicca-chicca, ninga-ning… brrrr!….Continue Reading

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Just 16 schools have won approval from the education secretary as part of a radical experiment in English education

Jeevan Vasagar Jessica Shepherd
Monday 6 September 2010 21.37 BST

Schools offering training in etiquette and fine dining in Bradford, compulsory Latin in London, and lessons for all children in a musical instrument in Bedford were approved today by the government as part of a radical experiment in English education.

A new wave of free schools founded by parents, teachers or private firms will open in England next September, under plans announced by the education secretary, Michael Gove.

While the number who won initial approval today was small – just 16 – Gove welcomed them and said they were all a response to local demand.….Continue Reading

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Civil servants who allocate billions of pounds to university teaching are secretly opposing moves which would ban spending on “Mickey Mouse” degree courses.

By David Barrett, Edward Malnick and Chris Buscombe
Published: 9:00AM BST 05 Sep 2010

Source: BBC NEWS

Fewer children are learning to play a musical instrument than in their parents’ generation, a survey suggests.

4 September 2010 Last updated at 00:39 GMT

One third of children play a musical instrument compared with two thirds of their parents at the same age, research for BBC Worldwide found.

And just 44% of the 1,046 parents questioned said it was important for their child to be involved in music.

The most popular instruments for children are the guitar, the keyboard and the recorder.….Continue Reading

Source: BBC NEWS

Children’s keyboards, educational spelling toys and even an evil-looking Barbie all help to create the unique sound of Birmingham’s Modified Toy Orchestra.

4 September 2010 Last updated at 06:30 GMT

The group’s five musicians “liberate” the toys by taking apart their circuits and reworking them – with nearly 50 specially adapted instruments being used altogether.….Continue Reading

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A school in Australia has removed the word “gay” from the much-loved children’s song Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree and replaced it with the word “fun” to stop classroom giggling.

Nick Squires
Published: 6:24PM BST 02 Sep 2010

Source: BBC NEWS

A Cheshire music student was ordered to buy an extra seat for her violin after an airline refused to let her take the instrument as hand luggage.

31 August 2010 Last updated at 15:53 GMT

Francesca Rijks, 12, from Macclesfield, was flying home with her family from Dusseldorf after a holiday in Germany.

Staff told them to put the violin in the hold – which would potentially ruin the instrument.Francesca and her family got off the plane to buy the ticket, and missed the flight.….Continue Reading

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A music student and her father were barred from a Ryanair flight because they hadn’t bought an extra seat for her violin.

By JAMES TOZER
Last updated at 8:55 AM on 31st August 2010

Twelve-year-old Francesca Rijks had planned to put the valuable instrument in an overhead locker as hand luggage.

But even though her father says airline staff had told him that would be permitted, workers at the gate demanded they bought a third ticket costing an extra £190 – more than double the cost of their own seats. Otherwise it would have to be put in the hold, at risk of catastrophic damage.….Continue Reading

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Two of Michael Jackson’s children have begun attending school for the first time after years of home schooling, according to reports.

Published: 9:58PM BST 27 Aug 2010

Prince Michael, 13, and Paris Jackson, 12, had their first day on Wednesday at an exclusive private school in Los Angeles whose former students include the likes of Paris Hilton and former “Friends” actor Matthew Perry, according to the celebrity gossip website TMZ.….Continue Reading

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iPods, MP3 players and increased exposure to live music has led to a surge in hearing loss in teens, research suggests.

Published: 9:00PM BST 17 Aug 2010

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Jackie Evancho, a 10-year-old girl from Pennsylvania who appeared on America’s Got Talent, has drawn comparisons with Susan Boyle, after stunning the judges and audience with her voice.

Published: 9:59PM BST 11 Aug 2010

The girl, from Pine Township, sang Giacomo Puccini’s aria “O Mio Babbino Caro”, receiving a standing ovation from the judges Piers Morgan, Sharon Osbourne and Howie Mandel, as well as applause from the audience.….Continue Reading

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The debate: music journalist Victoria Segal and feminist blogger Laurie Penny debate the effects of pop music on children, in the wake of record producer Mike Stock’s comment that most R&B videos are like soft porn

Victoria Segal and Laurie Penny
Sunday 15 August 2010

Of course pop music should be at least a little subversive, but if all it can do is channel the elderly libido of Hugh Hefner then it’s time for a rethink. Nobody yearns for a Vera Drake society where sex is unmentionable and the only popular song is the equivalent of a covered-up piano leg – but not everything needs spelling out. Even though the birth of rock’n'roll brought with it pelvises and gyrations, the language of the earliest pop idols was still suggestive rather than overt; think of Elvis, all shook up, or the Beatles, the very thought of holding hands leaving them with “such a feeling/That my love I can’t hide”. Without some encoded furtiveness, some intimations of a secret through-the-looking-glass world, the magic vanishes.….Continue Reading

Source: BBC NEWS

A 19-year-old has helped form the new National Youth Orchestra of Iraq, bringing together musicians from all over the country.

13 August 2010 Last updated at 18:14 GMT

Watch Video

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Mike Stock, the music producer, has criticised modern pop music for over-sexualising its material.

By Andy Bloxham
Published: 8:30AM BST 11 Aug 2010

Source: DAILYMAIL

A Rochdale headteacher who has ambitions to top the charts is making a bid for stardom by releasing her first single.

By SARA MCCORQUODALE
Last updated at 7:59 PM on 7th August 2010

Cherie Rivero – dubbed ‘Miss Whiplash’ due to her penchant for PVC catsuits – is launching her debut track  ‘Dirty Dance’ on the internet.

The teacher, who has been head of Bamford Primary School in Rochdale for 13 years, filmed the video for the song in Mumbai and has previously performed in pubs and clubs in Thailand, America, Cuba, Egypt and Hong Kong.….Continue Reading

Source: DAILYMAIL

Don’t give up the day job! Why Lenny Henry and Meera Syal are attempting to master their childhood musical hobbies.

By JENNY JOHNSTON
Last updated at 10:30 PM on 6th August 2010

What a shock to the eardrums. Lenny Henry sounds suddenly like an over-excited Barry Gibb  -  his voice, usually way down in his boots, is somehow transformed into a squeaking falsetto.

The fact that his ‘microphone’ is a pink pencil is more worrying still. And he’s not the only celebrity making odd noises.

The sound being produced by newsreader Katie Derham isn’t exactly run-from-the-room terrible, but it’s still shocking to hear, especially coming from someone who seems so polished and perfect. …Continue Reading