Two surveys on childhood behaviour this week demonstrate that bringing up children in the modern world is far from child’s play.

The most shocking statistics unveiled by Education Minister Caitriona Ruane show that more than 130 primary pupils aged just five years and under were suspended from the classroom in the space of five years.

It almost beggars belief that children who have just started their education could be deemed guilty of physical attack on staff, being disruptive in class and physically attacking other pupils. Other categories of misbehaviour include persistent infringement of school rules, bullying and verbal abuse of teachers or classmates.

While the numbers involved represent only a tiny fraction of the children who have passed through first and second years at primary schools in the time period under review, it is truly astonishing that any children of such tender years could be so badly behaved as to warrant suspension. Indeed one child in the P1 to P4 age range was expelled in the 2004/5 academic year.

We, sadly, have grown accustomed to reports of children at secondary level schools being suspended or expelled. Indeed there was a protracted dispute at a Newtownards school recently over the issue of a pupil’s behaviour and how the authorities should respond. But these latest statistics involving primary school pupils take the breath away.

There will be people of an older generation who believe that the rot set in regarding pupils’ behaviour with the abolition of corporal punishment in schools. However, corporal punishment was in itself a symptom of disruption in the classroom. How pupils behave and their reaction to authority must be learned first at home.

While teachers, in the main, do sterling work in instilling discipline in pupils, it is not their duty or responsibility to ensure that children grow up with proper social values. Parents must look at themselves first when their children misbehave and they must also give teachers proper support when problems arise in the classroom.

Even very young children are very capable to playing parents off against teachers in an attempt to escape culpability for their actions.

According to the second survey, many parents are also failing to educate their children to the long-term consequences of a diet of junk-food. The British Heart Foundation found that 73% of 8-15 year-olds did not realise that eating badly can cause health risks.

The children felt the worst risks were weight gain, rotting teeth or spots. With one in four children in the province now classified as obese or overweight — the figure is even worse for adults at nearly 60% — there is, as the charity points out, a health time bomb ticking away.

The easily availability of ready meals or take-aways mean that parents, pressed for time, can easily fall into the trap of serving up unhealthy food. While there is no harm in the occasional burger or fish supper, it is evident from the statistics that take-aways are more popular among many families than traditional home-cooking.

The shocking conclusion is that today’s junk-food children could be the first generation to have a lower life expectancy than their parents unless they change their diets dramatically.