Britain's children are being poisoned by a "junk
culture" of processed food, computer games and
over-competitive education, an influential group
of children's authors and experts warned.
In an open letter to the Daily Telegraph, 110
teachers, psychologists and children's authors
-- including the internationally acclaimed author
Philip Pullman and Penelope Leach, a leading childcare
expert -- called on the government to act now
to prevent childhood being killed off altogether.
Forced "to act and dress like mini-adults," children
are becoming increasingly depressed and experiencing
escalating levels of behavioral and developmental
problems, they said.
"Since children's brains are still developing,
they cannot adjust as full-grown adults can, to
the effects of ever more rapid technological and
cultural change," the letter said.
"They need what developing human beings have
always needed, including real food (as opposed
to processed "junk"), real play (as opposed to
sedentary, screen based entertainment), first
hand experience of the world they live in and
regular interaction with the real-life significant
adults in their lives."
The letter was circulated by Sue Palmer, an ex-head
teacher and author of a book entitled "Toxic Childhood,"
and Dr Richard House, a senior lecturer at the
Research Center for Therapeutic Education at Roehampton
University.
"Children's development is being drastically
affected by the kind of world they are brought
up in," Palmer told the Daily Telegraph. "It is
shocking."
"A child's physical and psychological growth
cannot be accelerated. It changes in biological
time, not at electrical speed. Childhood is not
a race."
The experts condemned Britain's increasingly
"target-driven" education system and urged the
government to recognize children's need for more
time and space to develop, demanding an urgent
public debate on child-rearing in the 21st century.
"Our society rightly takes great pains to protect
children form physical harm, but sees to have
lost sight of their emotional and social needs,"
they said.
