Selfish society cuts childhood short
Parents hooked on chasing their own success is now "greatest threat" to children’s wellbeing and happiness, a major new study has found.
A catalogue of social ills from inequality between rich and poor, family breakdown to children becoming sexually active earlier, was blamed on adults’ focus on pursuing selfish ambitions instead of working towards a common good.
The report - A Good Childhood reflects a genuine fear on behalf of the UK’s children that their lives are becoming more difficult. Put together by more than 35,000 contributors, for the Children's Society, the three year study, the Press Association news agency reports, calls for a "significant" change of heart in society.
More young people are anxious and troubled. These problems are connected with the changing world in which children are growing up. More families now break up and more mothers go out to work. New media, including the internet, expose children to commercial and lifestyle influences unknown before. The pressure of school exams is greater than ever. And relative poverty affects more children than in most of the past 50 years.
This type of materialistic "me first" society makes for more family rows, more pressure to own things, excessive competition in schools and "unacceptable" income inequality, the report found. The 11 expert members said "excessive individualism" needed to be replaced by a value system where people seek satisfaction more from helping. “We think that the preoccupation with self is taking too much of the joy out of children's lives, out of their family lives, out of their school, even out of their leisure life and consumption, professor Lord Richard Layard, said launching the report. Lord Layard, a member of the inquiry panel, said, The Press Association reports; “We want the new generation of children, who are learning the importance of contributing to the welfare of others other than themselves, putting human relationships higher relative to possessions and status. In short children should think that it is love that is the most important thing in life."
The survey asked adults whether “nowadays parents aren’t able to spend enough time with their children.” Sixty per cent agreed. They were also asked whether “these days more and more parents have to put their career first, even if this affects their family life”. Nearly half agreed.
SOS Children is the world's largest orphan and abandoned children's charity. Child sponsors and donors worldwide provide a new family and home for more than 70,000 children in 473 unique children's villages in 123 countries.
By Hayley Jarvis for SOS Children
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