Are We Ruining Our Toddlers' Mental Health?

Many years ago, long before the advent of the computer age, the upbringing of our young children during school holidays and weekends followed a similar pattern.  Children would be sent out to play and told to return at tea-time.  Those of us who remember such a time recall long, long days of imaginative play with other children who lived in the same street.  Rarely did a child have something constructive to play with;  rather, children constructed their own games using local amenities such as playgrounds, parks and alleys between houses as simple backdrops.  Yes, there probably were dangers out there in those times, but because they weren't constantly trumpeted from every media outlet available, parents used their common-sense and relied on their instincts a lot more. Back then, particularly in the immediate post-war years, children were simply happy to be free of restrictive parental controls, relishing the freedom to run, jump and enact elaborate role-playing games. Playtime was a time to live in that vast, creative, imaginative world where anything was possible. But, unfortunately, that world seems to have disappeared.

It was therefore interesting to see a recent independent report on the state of childhood today. It was commissioned by The Children's Society and carried out by Lord Layard, the Labour peer, and Professor Judy Dunn, a child psychologist at the Institute of Psychiatry.

The report confirms all our lurking fears about the behavior of today's children. It warns that because of largely media-provoked paranoia about the dangers children face and irrational hostility from the general public, children have lost their freedom to play outside. But, thankfully, the wheel has now turned full-circle. Parents are, once again, urged to avoid today's insidious 'cotton wool culture' and actively return to the actions of our forebears. Yes: let your children play outdoors and make new friends rather than keeping them cooped up indoors.  Not only will their mental health improve, but also their general health. Research has recently proved that introducing your toddlers to 'a bit of dirt' strengthens their immune systems to withstand such modern hazards as asthma. That 'bit of dirt' acts like a vaccination, effecting that vital surge of white blood-cells to not only combat infections but also bolster our defenses against future attacks.

It is what we all knew really, but an extra dimension is the report's particular focus on the effects on children's mental health. Based on interviews with more than 30,000 children, adults and professionals, the report claims that the mental health of young people is also at risk from bullying, exam stress, junk food and alcohol. It is clear that children are growing up more confused, pressurized and lacking in real values than in previous generations. A child displaying mental health symptoms is likely to grow up into a confused adult.

Along with the analysis, the report offers some guidelines on how your child's health in general can be improved. It includes:

• ways children can grow up supported and influenced by family and friends (rather than from advertising and reality TV);
• a complete ban on advertising for under-12s;
• a call for better support services to cater for children who develop mental health problems or eating disorders;
• reasons why you should not treat children as "little adults";
• the need to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14;
• guidelines for companies to allow working mothers to balance their jobs with their family responsibilities, amid fears that 'macho' employers only judge staff on the number of hours they put in. One of the huge problems for mothers is that in order to be successful in a career, they too often have to work long hours;
• actual proof that children have lost their freedom to play outside because of paranoia about the dangers they face.

At long last this research has proven what we all feared.  Something wonderful has been lost. The active, imaginative and role-playing world that children at play freely exercised fifty years ago was a life-enhancing and positive way to exercise their mental health. There is no need for expensive toys that actually do more harm than good by restricting imaginative play.

Let us hope that this report is but a forerunner of change for the better for the children of today. It is the best legacy we can give them. A healthy mind is a wondrous gift that will give positive results:  not only for the child and the adult he/she will eventually become, but for all the individuals encountered throughout that life.