So France is bringing back national (or probably more accurately, civic) service for all 16 year olds.
What do you think? Good idea? Or not?!
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Good.
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I can speak from experience … well of a sort…
We had an obnoxious lad here in the village, first met him when he was about 5…he grew into a troublesome teenager, big chip on shoulder… etc etc…then he moved on to who knows where.
WELL… after a couple of years, he paid a visit to his old haunts. What a change…he was chirpy but polite, smiling etc etc. It was a pleasure to chat with him…and he even sorted out a youngster who was about to do wreck the flowerbeds… 
Turned out, he had joined the Army some months before… and… all I can say is… thank heaven for that.
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Good idea, give the youngsters some discipline, independance and maybe pride in themselves ! 
Also hope it takes them away from their infernal texting all the time !
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Definitely a good idea, pity it’s only civic and for 1 month though. Maybe the UK should introduce something similar…
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If it remains totally voluntary then maybe ok…but as a mother whose relatively flexible house rules were a) no motorbikes…and b) no joining the army…and c) no banned substance taking on my watch then absolutely not…If it were to become mandatory then I would be objecting as a conscientious objector to all war…and guiding my kids to object too…
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Not Very ‘Flexible’ rules Helen ? 
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My kids, one girl, joined the RN, boy the RAF, both have turned out good folks
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Think national service should be compulsory in every country.
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I have very close family in Canada…my sister who has 4 sons who have all joined the armed forces in one capacity or another due to lack of employment opportunity otherwise…She’s proud of all of them but she pretty much lives on tenterhooks depending on where they get deployed to…I’m likewise proud of all of mine whether I am personally perceived as inflexible or not…Their freedom of choice to participate in war or not matters to me a great deal…their freedom of choice to remain a pacifist matters to me…their freedom of choice in raising their own kids matters to me equally…You’ve raised great kids and I have too…just different perspectives…I’ll probably never be at ease with any perceived government making anything mandatory…,
Sadly I was unable to join the military due to my sleep apnea. I was in the Army cadets and knew for a long time id be refused active service I still continued with cadets anyhow. If I was drafted i would go no questions. I do not like the idea of killing people but service is service.
I think it is great for getting kids into the right attitude and while many kids are brought up right, many are not.
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Helen, you did say, in your post,
You said, “No motorbikes, no Army”.
Not really, very flexible ? 
How is it not flexible when they were my only 3 house rules…??? My motorbike/moped “rule” was purely for safety reasons having experienced two friends in horrific accidents and one paralysed from the neck down…and another decapitated on a local motorway junction after an argument with his girlfriend…They all knew from little…”please don’t get a moped or motorbike…” my dad had put insurances in place that would pay out when they were 17…enough to buy them their first cars…
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Ok Helen, but you didn’t indicate, any of that did you?
As an ex biker, really sorry about your friends. Re the Forces, both my kids chose their career’s, and both did very well, they were free to choose, we provided the opportunity to be educated, as well as we could provide, then, some decisions, they have to arrive at themselves.
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my kids will be free to choose what they want. I will advice them of safety but its their choice at the end of the day when they are old enough to decide for themselves.
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For children who have no idea of thought for others or discipline, this could be the making of them.
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It seems that the service is going to be so short that the chances of it making any difference is fairly remote. I believe that the volunteers will simply get in the way of the professionals. Better i would think to encourage youngsters to take part from an earlier age in activities like our local junior sapeurs - pompiers.
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Yes David… that would be a brilliant idea…
Doing something! Has to be better than doing nothing Dave.
How many kids can the local pompiers cope with, without them getting ‘underfoot’ ?
It is a pity that it is so short.
Can kids learn something about gardening, caring for animals etc?
All rewarding and probably so different from towns.
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