The cheese, salami and crudités were arranged. Parmesan twists lay not far from the breathing wine bottles. Water and juice were on hand and the glasses were lined up. The LCD projector’s beam hit the large wall, importing the backdrop for the evening’s presentation. It read:

Toxic Childhood, how contemporary culture is damaging the next generation… and what we can do about it.

The first half of that title reflects what is, for many,  the very sad state of childhood in the 21st century, but fortunately we as parents and educators are able to focus optimistically on the latter half; namely what we can do about it.

Sue Palmer, educational consultant, activist and researcher, was our guest for an evening of honest, often heartbreaking talk, citing grim and shocking statistics gathered from years of researching childhood in the wealthy developed nations of the US, UK, and Japan.  The results were gathered in an effort to gain a clearer understanding of what teachers describe as worrying trends in today’s schools, specifically: delayed language acquisition, ever increasing numbers of children who are incapable of focusing on school related tasks, and a worrying lack of social awareness.

Ms Palmer cites a mixture of technological advances, greater buying power, market forces, and general trends in family lifestyles as culprits that combine to make the experience of childhood far less healthy for children today than in previous decades. She names ten aspects of childhood that need detoxing:  Diet, Exercise/Play, Sleep, Communication, Family, Childcare, Education, Marketing, Technology, and Childrearing.

During our evening with Sue Palmer, she focused mostly on play, language development, creating family time, protecting children from marketing and specifically and importantly from too much television and/or violent video games. She urged parents to talk to one another about what is acceptable, explaining that raising children with warmth yet firmness was crucial to success. Ms Palmer advised parents to arm themselves with data and be prepared to defend their decisions to children’s attempts at manipulation with firm, yet warm refusal, saying, “I love you and want to keep you healthy and that’s why I make these decisions. I’ve read the research and I want to give my children the best care I can.” End of discussion.

Copies of both of Ms Palmer’s books may be borrowed from the Parent Resource Library in the lower school library.