detoxing childhood

One book that was published recently has acted as confirmation of the Steiner education my children have been receiving since moving to Brighton four years ago. It may sound extreme, but Detoxing Childhood is a book I think every parent should read.
Last year education consultant, writer and broadcaster Sue Palmer wrote a book called Toxic Childhood which sparked a national debate on how we are raising our children. She and a colleague who specialises in children's mental health, Richard House, wrote an open letter to the Telegraph which was undersigned by 110 childcare experts. The letter touched on the way children are expected to cope with an ever earlier start to formal education, are pushed by market forces to act and dress like mini adults, and are exposed to electronic mediums which contain material often totally unsuitable for children. The open letter brought a flood of support and comment worldwide, and opened the debate on child rearing in the 21st century. Palmer's research appeared to be given further justification when a Unicef report in Spring 2007 declared that British children are the unhappiest in the developed world.
Sue Palmer wrote Detoxing Childhood in an attempt to show how the negative influences on children's development can be defused. The book gives clear, practical advice on how to bring up children in a way that avoids the problems of our 'toxic' world. It is broken down into sections including diet, play, education, childcare, electronic mediums and marketing.
I've read the book from cover to cover and although some of the advice might sound the words of an idealist: "try not to get angry with your kids at all" I believe it is a fantastic reference book for parenthood. The premise of the book is that in today's fast moving, technology-driven society, many children's developmental needs are not being met and in fact the side effect of modern life is 'toxic child syndrome'. Palmer explains this as a combination of factors: children have developed a taste for unhealthy food and a couch potato screen-based lifestyle; often children miss out on traditional 'family time' which is so important for emotional security; growing up in an electronic world instead of a real one means they are influenced as never before by marketeers, unsuitable role models and celebrity culture. The chapters on television and computers are worth reading alone, and I must say after reading the book I have made a real attempt to drastically cut down the amount of time I spend on the internet or texting when they are around. Palmer's recommendations on education are also of real interest and she argues against the 'too much too soon' mentality that prevails in the UK.
Modern children may look and act big, but often they are extremely fragile inside, she says. Concentrating on children's educational development at the expense of other aspects of their psychological and emotional growth can be damaging, and Palmer believes it is no coincidence that Britain has worse problems among teenagers with binge drinking, drug abuse, depression and eating disorders than any other country in Europe.
Interestingly, Palmer's colleague Richard House became interested in Steiner education when his work as a psychologist led him to examine on why adults were, in his words, so screwed up. He looked at education and found many reasons why children would struggle in today's tests and targets system, and ended up doing the training to become a Steiner kindergarten teacher. He, like Palmer, now tours the UK speaking about the effects of contemporary lifestyles on child development, and his recent seminar at Brighton Steiner School specifically about the impact of technology on children gave many parents food for thought. The overall message is, it's not too late: we can take steps to detoxify childhood and take back control of our own and our children's lives, for the sake of everyone's future.