Should this girl be Samba queen?

“Any man who looks at a seven-year-old child and feels any sort of excitement should go see a doctor.”

– the words of Marco Lira, the father of seven year old Julia, whose dance talent is the talk of Brazil.

This blogger doesn’t want Julia to lead this year’s carnival procession.

On air: Is Zuma’s private life of ‘public interest’?

President Zuma’s office says he has 19 children, though we’re not sure if that includes the most recent one which he confirmed this week was born last October to a woman who isn’t one of this three wives.

What Jacob Zuma has had to say:

He says he’s done all the “cultural imperatives” that the child brings. He goes on…

On air: Are our children’s multi-media lives good for them?

We’re pulling together two discussions today. The first is about television. Charles Kenny, a Washington developmental economist, believes that TV can teach us all, including our children, useful lessons for life. He argues it’s too easy to dismiss its benefits. The second is a row that’s broken out over Facebook and MySpace’s refusal to adopt a help button for children to report concerns about grooming and bullying. (Here’s an excellent commentary on the story.)It once again raises the issue of how safe and beneficial being online is for children. 

If you have an obese child, are you a neglectful parent?

And if you are yourself obese are you a neglectful parent as well? Well, in the case of a Scottish mother of six , yes you are. Social workers have moved to take into care a baby born to an obese mother who gave birth to her sixth child last week. The mother cannot be named for the protection of her children’s identity.

What would you ask this group of kids?

On today’s TV show, we’ll be joined by Nathan, Anita and Jordan in London, Jamu in Nairobi, Jahanara in Delhi, and Zeyki in Berlin. They’re all teenagers and still at school. We’re going to start off by talking about if it’s possible to over-educate kids, but you can ask them about any part of their experience at school. If you post your qs here and Krupa will read some of them on air.

Should young children be banned from watching TV ?

That’s what a research by the Royal Melbourne Children’s Hospital suggests . The study recommends that children under the age of two should be banned from watching TV or using other electronic media, including computers and DVDs.

Who should decide a child’s religion?

Update:  We’ve been trying to get in touch with Rifqa, her father and the pastor who took her in to see if they would take part in this show. Progress is slow but will keep you posted on how this goes!

Meet Rifqa, the teen who ran away because she feared being killed by her Muslim family for converting to Christianity. Here’s what she had to say before she left home Her parent’s disagree and authorities have said they have found no credible evidence to back up Rifqa’s claims.  They plan to make their case on Monday. Click on the video below to hear their testimony.

Should a Five Year Old Know about Sex?

Thank you from the Newshour team for all your brilliant comments on the United Nations’ sex education guidelines. Saturday’s on air discussion is now over, but we’ve continued to receive many interesting views on whether it’s appropriate to learn about sex at an early age. We appreciate your willingness to delve into what can be a very sensitive topic.

Nadine Kussaim: How I speak to my 5-year-old about her weight

Nadine was one of the contributors on last Friday’s program about why women are uncomfortable with their bodies. She was speaking about weight and body image when the topic of speaking to her daughter about her weight and what she eats came up. Many of you responded to what she said and so I called and asked her to write a post explaining her viewpoint. This is Nadine’s post:

On air: Are mobile phones damaging our children’s sexual development?

Let’s me be straight up about this: this is a BBC story. We wouldn’t normally take one of our own and develop it into a programme. WHYS is about taking conversations that are already taking place, not about starting them. But this has been in the top 10 most read stories worldwide on bbcnews.com for the past few hours, and we’re also confident it relates to an issue that is already up-and-running in many of your countries.