Modern Childhood

by Gavin Heward CHEK, FDN, CMTA, Dip. Remedial Therapy, DDN

A 2010 survey showed that only 14% of children report that their parentʼs stress does NOT bother them. In the same survey 69% of parents said their stress had no impact on their children. 91% of the children said that it definitely did!

I think we would all agree that the world we live in today is very different from the world in which our ancestors grew up. It brings many benefits in the form of technology, information, opportunities for travel and learning. The children of today surely have an enormous number of opportunities in front of them from a growing number of sources. Would more could they ask for?

Well, perhaps if they were able to, they would ask for less. How could that be? To fully understand this question we must consider some wider issues – firstly we must understand that the human gene has not changed which means that the body, brain and capacity for learning our children have today is the same as it was around 10,000 years ago. Secondly we must also consider that technology is moving at an incredible rate but has only been part of our everyday lives for perhaps 25 years. So when we look at it this way we must ask “Are our children able to cope as well as we think they can when our environment has changed so quickly compared to how long we have been on the planet?”

A large and growing number of behavioural experts and pediatricians are beginning to answer “No, we are moving too fast and our children are being pushed along much faster than is good for them.” At what expense is technology changing the lives of the new generations? A Psychiatric Association study revealed that 35% of children have stress related illness, 38% have trouble falling and staying asleep, and 36% have headaches. My own clinical experience has shown the role of stress in asthma and allergies.

Rates of child psychology, behavioural disorders, disruptive behaviour and chronic illness are higher than they have ever been. Our children, despite the opportunities they have surrounding them, are not coping quite as well as we think once we step back and look at the bigger picture.

Having worked with a number of children and their families to overcome diagnosed illnesses such as ADHD, autism and the like, one of the first steps we take is to look carefully at nutrition and some fundamental health issues such as state of the immune system and others. I have witnessed how parents are amazed at how their child is not as healthy as they thought despite following mainstream health advice. Parents are even more amazed at just how much of their own stress that the child takes on. However, children do not yet have the same coping mechanisms of us adults. So what will it take for us to ensure that our children can cope better within our new world? From my clinical experience helping improve the lives of many families I sincerely hope that we will not wait until we are prompted by health issues or behavioural changes. Their is so much we can all do NOW. It is surely better to make sure that problems do not occur than to try and find solutions once they do.

If you would like an opportunity to learn why now is so unique for children, how to recognise the many faces of stress for children, the crucial role that adults play, strategies you can use immediately with your own children or those around you, and technologies to help regulate those children then please consider the seminar “Modern Childhood” for anyone who is a parent, thinking about becoming one, or regularly spends time with children.

If you are in Copenhagen and would like to register online please click this link:

http://www.lejenbehandler.dk/pages/den-moderne-barndom

And, if you can’t manage an overnight trip to the Danish capital, keep an eye out for a video release of the topics covered, I’ll be announcing it on Twitter.