Car lessons for kids are useful

Regarding your story Kiddie cars to help children learn road safety (September 30), children need to learn discipline and respect first. More and more parents are spoiling them.

Suhail Ahmed, Dubai

I wholeheartedly advocate such activities. The roads might be safer in the future.

April Tarman, Dubai

This should be especially available to children in year 12, before they get their hands on a real car.

Caroline Wareham, UK

Is home schooling more useful than regular education?

Home schooling isn't a good option (When the school bell rings, you'll find my kids at home, October 1). Children's brains grow better in a social environment. Keeping them at home would mean social isolation.

The lessons that society teaches children are much more important than maths and science, which they can learn at home. Also, we learn different subjects to use them as tools to interact with others in society in the best possible way. How can that be possible if a child is confined to home?

Farzaneh Forooz, Abu Dhabi

I don’t think there is anything wrong with home schooling. People have different choices and are wired differently. Just because one is home schooled doesn’t mean one wouldn’t have social skills. Besides, the whole “social” thing is overrated anyway. Learning to be alone and not needing constant social stimulus might actually be good for the brain and avoid overstimulation. One size does not fit all.

Jayadevi Machaya Palekanda, Dubai

JBR residents need peace

I am referring to your article The Beach at JBR has four days of activities for Eid Al Adha (September 30). I am an owner of a home in the Jumeirah Beach Residence (JBR) and I am happy that our area is one of the most desired in Dubai. We are also very satisfied with all the restaurants and shops we can find close to the place we live. The area is lively as various programmes and activities take place there.

However, the company that manages the JBR property does not maintain any contact with the owners’ associations and we don’t have any influence in the activities that are conducted in our area.

It’s a residential area, so all activities should be conducted in coordination with the owners’ associations. Some of them cause disturbances among residents.

Luis Morales, Dubai

No respite in scam calls

I am answering the question posed on your Facebook page: Have you ever received a telephone scam call in the UAE?

On one occasion while I was receiving such a call, I threatened the caller saying that I would report him to the police. Hearing that the man started screaming obscenities at me. The caller posed as someone from Etisalat.

Kate Gravestock, Dubai

I received many calls from people posing as Etisalat representatives.

Each time they said the same thing – that I had won some millions of dirhams. I read in the newspaper earlier that the authorities had been cracking down on such scammers. Yet it has not stopped. These people are not afraid of being reported to the police. Nor are they bothered about the fact that their numbers can easily be traced as each mobile number in the UAE is now registered in the owner’s name. It’s surprising that these things still happen.

Name withheld by request

Twice I received calls from people pretending to be from Etisalat, telling me that I had won money. I gave both the mobile numbers to Etisalat, after which it stopped.

Andrea Nelson, Dubai