ShareThisA new independent study sponsored by the Church of England rates the wellbeing of British and American children as worst among the world's wealthiest nations.
More than 35,000 people contributed to the study, which concludes that rampant individualism and social irresponsibility have damaged the children of both societies.
Concentrating its criticism on Britain, the report cites evidence that "some of the worst rates of child unhappiness, poverty, family breakdown, and child violence in the Western world" prevail in the United Kingdom.
The study, titled "A Good Childhood," calls for "a radical shift away from the excessively individualistic ethos which now prevails, to an ethos where the constant question is, 'What would we do if our aim was a world based on love?'"
In 1959, a majority of Britons believed most people could be trusted. Today only 29 percent of Britons and a larger minority of Americans agree. The report suggests that this untrusting attitude is conveyed from parents to children in both countries.
Daisy Goodwin, writing in The Sunday Times of London, agrees that British kids "fare the worst of all the children in the 21 developed nations ... Britain -- and, it must be conceded, the United States -- has more broken families than anywhere else in the West. (Children) are less likely to sit down as a family to eat a meal, but more likely to fight with each other, drink more alcohol, take more drugs, have more sex and produce more babies than any of their European counterparts." Also to be overweight and to leave school early. More British and American children live in relative poverty than their counterparts in Europe.
"A Good Childhood" lays these shaming statistics at the feet of parents, concluding that both individually and as societies Britons and Americans are the West's worst parents. It blames the prevailing loss of faith in one another on the breakdown of the family, citing the rise of mothers working and parental breakup.
Daisy Goodwin comments: "We are raising a generation of children who are left in efficient but soulless nurseries as babies during the day and looked after by a tired, depressed single mother at night."
The report deplores the tendency of parents to fight in front of their children. "Parents getting along well is one of the most important factors in raising happy children," the study states.
Ironically, whereas seven in 10 teenagers agree with that statement, seven in 10 parents disagree with it.
Two-thirds of adults agree that today's children lack the moral values of previous generations and have a weaker sense of community with others. "A Good Childhood" calls for parents to offer good example by caring for others and to be warm and loving but also firm with their children. That means spending more active time with them and drawing them out in conversation.
The report also proposes that both public and private schools assess not only their students' academic performance, but also their emotional wellbeing.
The Church of England is to be commended for refraining from drawing any religious conclusions from "A Good Childhood."
(David Yount's new book is "How the Quakers Invented America" (Rowman & Littlefield). He answers readers at P.O. Box 2758, Woodbridge, VA 22195 and dyount(at)erols.com)
AMAZING GRACE
