Children's lives are being blighted by Britain's selfish society

Children's lives are being blighted by Britain's selfish society, a landmark report has concluded.

By Martin Beckford, Social Affairs Correspondent
Last Updated: 2:09PM GMT 02 Feb 2009

The Good Childhood Inquiry claims that almost all of the problems now facing young people stem from the culture of "excessive individualism" that has developed in recent decades.

It says the "me-first" attitude of adults is causing family breakdowns, competition in education, a growing gap between rich and poor, unkindness among teenagers and premature sexualisation by advertisers.

The pioneering two-year investigation, backed by the Archbishop of Canterbury and based on interviews with 35,000 children, parents and professionals, claims British children are less happy than those in almost any other developed country.

It says the number of children with emotional or behavioural problems has risen from 10 per cent in 1986 to 16 per cent now, and that children in broken homes are 50 per cent more like to suffer problems at school or become depressed. In addition, almost a quarter of young people in Britain live in households below the breadline.

A third of 16-year-olds in Britain live apart from their fathers, while the country has the highest rates of teenage pregnancy in Western Europe and the age at which women lose their virginity has dropped from 21 to 16 in less than 50 years.

Children now spend 21 hours a week watching television or playing video games, making them a target for unscrupulous advertisers, while junk food and alcohol also jeopardise their health.

The study blames these problems squarely on the growth of a struggle for personal status and success, which it says has filled the vacuum created by the decline of religious belief and community spirit.

Bob Reitemeier, the chief executive of The Children's Society, which carried out the inquiry, said: "This landmark report is a wake-up call to us all.

"It says that the aggressive pursuit of individual success by adults today is the greatest threat to our children.

"In many ways our children have never lived so well. And yet there is widespread unease that somehow their lives are fast becoming more difficult than they ought to be.

"There is unease about the unprecedented speed with which children's lives are changing; the commercial pressures they face; the violence they are exposed to; the rising stresses of school; the increased emotional distress they fell.

"There is one common theme that links all these problems: excessive individualism. This is the widespread belief among adults that the prime duty of the individual is to make the most of their own life, rather than to contribute to the lives of others."

Asked what had caused this selfish culture to develop in Britain, Lord Layard, the Labour peer who wrote the final report, replied: "You have a decline in religious belief and a decline in what you may call socialism, that kind of social solidarity which was quite strong in the first half of the 20th century."

He added: "I don't want to pin this on capitalism."

But the authors warned of the risk that the problems suffered by children will deepen in the recession, and that if they are not tackled now "we'll be paying for this for generations to come".

In order to improve children's well-being, the report urges Government to provide better support for those with mental health problems; train teachers who specialise in social skills; ban advertising aimed at the under-12s; scrap school league tables and Sats tests; and give greater commitment to tackling child poverty.

The study also tells parents they should make a long-term commitment to each other and to hold a civil birth ceremony even if they are not religious.

The Children's Society intends to publish an index of children's wellbeing twice a year to measure progress towards its goals.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/children_shealth/4435100/Childhood-ruined-by-me-first-society-landmark-report-claims.html

Never having children of my own ( a stepdaughter ) who I love to bits, I never feel really entitled
to comment on this subject too much. After saying that LOL .... I have thought for years that there is more emphasize on buying the "right" type of trainers than quality time spent with the children.

Krisy22 wrote:Never having children of my own ( a stepdaughter ) who I love to bits, I never feel really entitled
to comment on this subject too much. After saying that LOL .... I have thought for years that there is more emphasize on buying the "right" type of trainers than quality time spent with the children.

I have one daughter and even for me is dificult to comment

the true is that the parents of my generation need to work more and are also very interested in doing a career

in my parents time, the couple decided who will have the career (majority of the times the man) and who will educate the kids (the women)

now, both parents need and want to work, because both want to be independent

with this, we have less time for kids

they need to go to nursery school younger and they spend there more time!

when all return home, the parents are tired and don´t have many patient

is dificult to be parent on our days because everything is expensive so the money is need, but a little of planning and organizations can solve it!

The comments of Krisy and Paula are interesting because I didn't read the article as a criticism of otherwise loving and responsible parents who needed to go out to work, or were struggling as single parents, but rather on the socially upwardly mobile parents who made a choice to put their own needs before the well being of their children. Parents who could spend time with their children but chose not to.

"It was our holiday too".

I must admit, I have friends who seem to spend nearly all they earn on child care. Thats always seemed very strange to me.

Krisy22 wrote:Never having children of my own ( a stepdaughter ) who I love to bits, I never feel really entitled
to comment on this subject too much. After saying that LOL .... I have thought for years that there is more emphasize on buying the "right" type of trainers than quality time spent with the children.

Here here Krisy!
And you don;t have to be a 'biological' mum to be a mum Krisy. It sounds to me like you know that time is what is important to a child x