Working Together for Childhood
The Alliance for Childhood serves as a network that facilitates reflection and action by people with concerns about the care and education of children. It is not a conventional organisation, but an expression of a willingness to work together for the betterment of the experience of childhood. It exists in the shared work and spirit of cooperation whereby all partners can find mutual support. It is a collaborative approach that is created by commitment and by the activity itself.
Alliance for Childhood Newsletter No 7
Here is the latest Newsletter
Alliance for Childhood 3rd International Conference
Budapest, Hungary 13-16 October 2010
Childhood in Balance
During the four-day conference, we have a valuable opportunity to explore the subject of ‘Childhood in Balance’. This theme is meant to encompass the entirety of the formative years, from birth until adulthood.
The Alliance for Childhood, associated sponsors and supporting organisations want to share new insights into the themes of early childhood and care; the effect of the media and IT on children; and poverty and exclusion'. We will seek to find ways in which to support and encourage each other in what we do and to develop concrete policy proposals for the various levels on which we operate.
The conference is open to everyone who shares a concern for these questions. We hope you will be able to join us for this important event!
Please find here further details including the conference programme timetable and registration form.
News! here are the latest details on the programme and speakers;
Don Beck videos are here.
Alliance for Childhood in the USA
The Alliance for Childhood in the US has issued a press release concerning the growing trend to send kindergarten children to 'Boot Camps':
In Murrieta Valley, California, parents are offered the option of enrolling their children in “kindergarten boot camp,” a summer program designed to help them survive the treacherous transition from home or child care to kindergarten. Children work on letter, number, and shape recognition, school routines, and other skills they are expected to know.
Similar programs are popping up all over the country, in response to parents’ anxiety about their youngsters’ ability to deal with the harsh realities of today’s kindergartens.
“It’s high time for early childhood education to do an about-face,” says Joan Almon, “and reject the boot-camp mentality. Young children don’t need to be coerced into learning. They love hands-on exploration and play. Teachers need to work with the grain and support that way of learning, while setting age-appropriate goals for achievement.”
The full text is here
Alliance for Childhood European Network
Improving the Quality of Childhood in the European Union: New perspectives
is a compilation of talks given at the Alliance's European Network Group sessions in the European Parliament. Contributors include John Bennet and Sir Richard Bowlby from the UK, Dr Boris Cyrulnik of France and Rene Diekstra from Holland; covering subjects from education in the European Union to attachment and the changing face of adolescence .
Copies are available at £10 plus postage and packing.
Please contact us to order your copy.
All proceeds go to fund the work of the Alliance.
Quality of Childhood Session European Parliament Brussels
The impact of television and screen media on the Quality of Childhood
The subject of the Quality of Childhood session on 31 August was 'The impact of television and screen media on the Quality of Childhood and what are good policies in this respect on the level of the family, on the level of the country and on the EU level?' The speaker was Dr. Aric Sigman, who wrote the book 'Remotely controlled, How television is damaging our lives'.
He outlined the ways that television and screen media have an impact on the development of children on a number of levels. He proposed to the European Parliament to have as a policy what in effect is recommended by the US government, namely to prevent children under two watching any television or screen media and restricting viewing for 2 to 18 year olds to two hours a day.
The Alliance for Childhood will support MEP's in this.
Play Scotland Annual Conference
Places and Spaces
30 September 2010
Play Scotland will be hosting their annual conference on Thursday 30 September at the Apex International Hotel, Grassmarket, Edinburgh.
We are delighted to inform you that due to a change in venue for our annual conference ‘Places and Spaces – creating child friendly communities’ on Thursday 30 September to the Apex International, 35 Grassmarket, Edinburgh our conference fee has been reduced from £180 (non member) £144 (members) to £99 per person.
Speakers: Dr Harry Burns, Chief Medical Officer; Prof Frank Furedi; Janette Fich Jesperson, Kompan; Matthew King, Child Friendly Initiatives, UNICEF; Professor Susan Deacon, Edinburgh Unviersity and Fergus Storrier, Youth Justice, Tayside Police.
Further details can be found here
For booking form click here
Play England response to proposed cuts to playground building by government
11 August 2010
Play England is pleased that a huge number of play spaces have already been built around the country as part of the playbuilder programme, and that children’s satisfaction with their local parks and play areas has increased significantly during this time. Therefore these proposed cuts will be a big disappointment to those communities whose plans have yet to be realised. We don’t argue that play spaces should be out of bounds for cuts when all areas of public spending are being cut. But play shouldn’t be seen as a soft target either: play should not be first in line for cuts, or indeed suffer disproportionately to other areas of children’s services.
Save Playbuilder Funding Campaign
A group of people have launched a campaign against the proposed government cuts to the playbuilder funding for building play spaces announced last month. Details are here
New Report on Children's Games
A new report by a soft drinks firm discovered that 'traditional childhood games favoured by past generations are in danger of dying out in an over-protective and high-tech culture. See article and video here.
Planet Earth Report
Play with Rainwater and Sustainable Drainage
Produced by Planet Earth Ltd for London Play with part-funding from Natural England
A ‘How to’ Guide
London Play have commissioned this report to investigate:
- How beneficial it must be for children to experience above ground what is happening to water, how it flows and sparkles, finds its own level and runs downhill?
- How beneficial it must be to design environments that can use rainwater to support lush and luxuriant plant habitats not normally sustainable in an arid, gully-ridden street?
Planet Earth Ltd have been using rainwater in children’s play for over 16 years. They have re-visited some of their early projects to see how they have endured and they have collected information from other sources for the benefit of designer’s wishing to implement similar projects for children today.
See the report here
Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood
Consuming Kids: The Commercialisation of Childhood (Trailer)
Susan Linn from CCFC has made a series of videos on the effect of advertising and promotions on childhood. You can access them here
New publication
The Spoilt Generation: Why Restoring Authority Will Make Our Children and Society Happier
Aric Sigman
Dr Sigman's new book The Spoilt Generation, has just been published. His previous book was Remotely Controlled: How Television is Damaging Our Lives, and his health and psychology book Getting Physical won The Times Educational Supplement's Information Book Award. Aric Sigman has worked on health education campaigns with the Department of Health and acted as advisor to the Institute of Personnel Management on health and psychology issues. He conducts seminars and public speaking. He currently gives talks to schools and parents on the effects of alcohol and other health issues, and he has recently written the Brain and Behaviour column for The Times Educational Supplement magazine.
Order here
Well Connected?: The Biological Implications of 'Social Networking', is published in the spring edition of Biologist, Vol 56(1), the journal of the Institute of Biology. Find it here
NOTE: This paper has been misrepresented by many news reports as claiming that social networking causes cancer or disease. This is not true. The paper addresses the extent to which time online may be displacing face-to-face contact, and that lack of social connection is associated with physiological changes, increased incidence of illness and higher premature mortality.
Quote of the month
'The young brain needs to be primed through real world 3D experiences that place plenty of cognitive demands on it.
'Children need to hold, feel, rub, taste, see and move real things to educate their neurological and cognitive infrastructure with a basic understanding of the real world.
'While new technology may serve as a powerful tool, it must be introduced and used judiciously at much later ages - ideally at least age nine.'
Dr Aric Sigman, Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine Read more