[Angus]

Originally Posted by WOMBAI

Although I agree with some of what you say - I think you make somewhat of a sweeping statement! Yes a lot of difficult children do come from difficult families and haven't been give the right guidance - but there are a lot of children with behaviour problems that come from perfectly good families. Some children are just difficult - strong, confrontational personalities etc - and I don't think it helps when people attempt to fit difficult children, and their families into such neat little boxes and attaching certain labels!

Families can be dysfunctional without necessarily being "difficult", and the worst offenders for labelling children tend to be the middle classes who tend to attribute virtually all antisocial behaviour from their offspring to a variety of psychological and neurological disorders, rather than accept that their little Johnny is out of control, or badly behaved due to their own lack of parenting skills. Too many parents want to be their kids' friend instead of nurturing, guiding and disciplining them. Kids don't need more friends, they need strong, reliable, consistent parenting, supported by good teachers. How can you expect good behaviour from children in school, if it is not expected from them at home?