Kids just want to belong

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Wonder and delight I look forward to reading Richard Glover’s book “How To Ruin A Child” (Insight, 17/10 ) as my experience of parenting three girls has been one of joy and delight. My guides were Jean Liedloff’s 1975 book The Continuum Concept and Rudolf Dreikurs’ idea of logical consequences in Happy Children. The needs of children are simple and any so-called ‘bad’ behaviour by them is generally the result of ‘bad’ behaviour by their parents, whose greatest need is to be educated on parenthood and child development. I disagree with the idea that child-raising is difficult, as it need not be. If we could see our kids as sources of delight and wonder, and parenting them as an education, a pleasure and a privilege, I’m sure we wouldn’t see our teens desperately seeking attention and a sense of belonging by being violent and destructive. Kids just want to belong, be approved of, and to know that warm acceptance is always there when they need it. It’s not rocket science. Don Jordan, Mt Waverley

White House hire There is a concept and practice in the world of work called due diligence. It involves checking an applicant’s claims of qualifications and work experience, something I’ve done many times. However, in the case of the recently hired and fired White House secretary Katie Zacharia these background checks were ignored by Donald Trump, who seems to rate blonde hair above all other considerations. Stephen Dinham, Metung

White House fire Zacharia Scamooched, vamoosed. Julie Conquest, Brighton

Get rid of states Six weeks to another state election. But do Victorians benefit from having a state, let alone the political tussle of an election? There is a strong argument that the six states and two territories cost taxpayers unnecessary expenditure. Each with its own set of rules and regulations. Each slightly different, and enough to make transferring from one to the other challenging especially for professionals such as doctors and lawyers, but also for tradies. Each police force, fire brigade, ambulance service, schools, hospitals, clinics, universities, etc, has its own set of guidelines, uniforms, procedures that make it difficult for them to interact with one another to our frustration and expense. There are many more examples that add cost and complexity to our lives. Surely, it’s time to scrap the states and increase the remit of councils with local knowledge and expertise. Especially as most states are reliant on federal funding. Let the federal ministers do all the work and interact directly with much larger councils that would represent their communities. Mike Reece, Doncaster

Knowing nothing It seems the Exclusive Brethren are actually run by Sergeant Schultz of American sitcom Hogan’s Heroes, famed for his line, “I know nothing, I see nothing, I hear nothing” abbreviated in later series to, “I know nothing, nothing”. (“ Brethren leader says he knew nothing ”, 17/10).