A call for greater focus on children's wellbeing
24 Aug 2012 | Wendy Ellyatt
Sadly a whole host of recent research reports have shown that
children in the UK are some of the most pressurised and unhappy in
the world. From the downward pressures of the school system,
to the changing nature of their local streetscapes and the
extraordinary advancement of digital technology, their rights and
freedoms have been progressively and substantially eroded.
The Save
Childhood Movement has been launched in response to the
increasing level of multidisciplinary concern about the current
erosion of childhood and the declining health and wellbeing of
children in the UK. Our attitudes, values and sense of self-worth
are strongly linked to the experiences that we have in the early
years and the movement is concerned that young children in the
modern world are currently subject to unprecedented
cultural and environmental tensions.
In 2007 the UNICEF Child Well-being Report put the UK at
the bottom of the league table of 20 OECD countries. And this was
despite the fact that many of the other countries were economically
poorer. In 2009 UNICEF then followed this up with a further report looking at the
commercialisation of children in Sweden, Spain and the UK. The
children in all three countries told researchers that their
happiness was dependent on spending time with stable families and
having plenty of things to do, especially playing outdoors, rather
than owning technology or branded clothes. The research showed,
however, that parents in the UK love their children, but they lose
out on time together as a family due in part to long working hours.
They then try to make up for this by buying their children
technology and clothes. Consumer culture in the UK contrasted
starkly with Sweden and Spain, where family time is prioritised,
children and families are under less pressure to own material goods
and children have greater access to activities out of the
home.
In 2009 the Good Childhood Inquiry reported that
children in the UK were suffering an 'epidemic of mental illness',
with significant increases between 1974 and 1999 in the number
suffering from conduct, behavioural and emotional problems. One in
ten children aged between five and 16 are reported as currently
have a clinically diagnosed mental health disorder - that's
more than a million children. About 35,000 children in England are
being prescribed anti-depressants and the UK has one of the highest
rates of self-harm in Europe, at 400 per 100,000 population. The
most recent Children's Society Good Childhood Report showed that at any one
time more than half a million children in the UK are unhappy with
their lives.
The Movement aims to identify and highlight the areas of most
concern, to protect children from all inappropriate developmental
and cultural pressures and to fight for their natural developmental
rights. It also aims to provide a critical platform for dialogue
and debate and to unite those individuals and organisations already
calling for change. More than twenty-five eminent advisors are
giving their time to the initiative and people are now being
invited to join the new members network and action groups. A
London-based summit is currently being planned for the
27-28 April 2013.
If you care about the wellbeing of young children
you are invited to join this exciting and rapidly growing new
initiative.
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Wendy Ellyatt is Co-founder and Director of the Save Childhood
Movement. For more information please email contact@savechildhood.net.
Tags:
Family & friends, Education, Politics of Happiness