Toxic Childhood - Sue Palmer

0.5 million prescriptions for Ritalin are written in the UK every year. Are you surprised?

Well, Sue Palmer, a renowned writer and lecturer, author of various grammar books and bestsellers 'Toxic Childhood' and 'Detoxing Children' talked to a jampacked auditorium about her discoveries about children nowadays.

In her words, modern children are bombarded with too much TV, Internet, electronic gadgets and toys that play alone and are not given the attention they deserve by their parents. All this results in a very toxic childhood, I mean, one lacking in caring love, direct attention and play, real play, interactiong with other human beings. The consequences are children have performed badly at school and in other areas of their lives, even socially.

Being a mother of two, it took me some time to sink it all in, and I seriously pondered whether I did/am doing the right thing...

In her book Toxic Childhood, she pinpointed 10 aspects of childhood that need detoxing:

1 - Food for thought - DIET
2 - Out to play - EXERCISE/PLAY
3 - Time for bed - SLEEP
4 - It's good to talk - COMMUNICATION
5 - We are family - FAMILY
6 - Who's looking after the kids - CHILDCARE
7 - Best days of their lives - EDUCATION
8 - The word on the street - PEER PRESSURE
9 - The electronic village - TECHNOLOGY
10 - Manners maketh man - PARENTING/SOCIETY

Human developing happens at 'biological time', not at electrical speed. She also stressed that love does not mean indulgence and love is about 'presence' and not 'presents' bought with 'guilt money.

To finish it, a sentence to take home: we're looking less at each other
because we're looking too much at the TV.

Turn it off then! Excellent session, loads to think about.