Introduction

by Christopher Clouder

There is an old Chinese proverb that runs "If you plan for a year, plant rice. If you plan for ten years, plant trees. If you plan for a hundred years, educate your children." This reminds us of the fact that the way we bring up and educate our children has effects that are of a nature that are longer term than we normally assume, and in our globalised world we should become even more conscious of this. As active adults and educators, in the broadest sense of the term, we are continually in the process of not only creating the future world for our own children but also for many generations to come.

At the beginning of the 19th century educational reformers, such as Ellen Key in Sweden, envisaged that it would be the century of childhood. It was believed that the value of childhood would be generally appreciated and seen as a common asset for humankind and that, by keeping children in a sort of paradisiacal protected garden, their healthy and happy future would be automatically assured. However history was to turn out differently, and at the beginning of the present century we find ourselves in a world where vast numbers of children still live in a harsh and hostile world. Many children face impoverishment, abuse, inadequate healthcare, violence and starvation. According to the United Nations Children's Fund, 650 million children are living in extreme poverty and this number is growing. Very many others feel the consequences of war and social disintegration.

Yet in the more affluent parts of the globe there are also other threats to the right to have a balanced and stress-free childhood. Commercialisation can place great pressure on children - and consequently on family life - when they are targeted as a vulnerable part of society and taught the habits of unlimited consumerism. Electronic media are seen as educational panaceas without enough consideration as to how they really affect young children emotionally and physically. Evidence is beginning to be published that suggests that such media should be approached with great caution with the very young. In many countries the mental health of very young children is becoming a cause of concern.

In a society where there is pressure on both parents to work, safe and understanding childcare facilities are vitally important. This is too often not the case and children then suffer the deprivation of the loving care they need to develop in a balanced manner. More and more children, whose behaviour is seen as anti-social or uncontrolled, are being treated with drugs, such as Ritalin, yet we do not know the long-term consequences of such dependency.

It is frequently remarked upon that children are losing the ability to play and to exercise themselves healthily through movement, and this too will affect their adult behaviour and well-being. This list is long. There are, of course, many children who are able enjoy their childhoods and are well nurtured through these years. But, in a technological environment where we can achieve so much, the fact that there are many millions who do not is becoming increasingly irresponsible and eventually unforgivable.

There are many organisations devoted to the cause of children and through their determined endeavours they have proved profoundly effective over the years. Yet why do so many children still face a disadvantageous and potentially harmful daily reality? A possible answer lies not just in creating yet another organisation but in connecting the individuals already concerned: activists, teachers, parents, medical practitioners, social workers, politicians and researchers - whole organisations - cooperating with the sense of a combined purpose.

Hence the founding of the Alliance for Childhood. Its purpose is to bring about a sense of colleagueship in facing these dilemmas, so that a concerted effort can be made and nobody who is concerned need feel they are crying in wilderness of inactivity and hopelessness. We now live in a global economy where we are affected be decisions taken very remotely from our immediate communities. We should look at the plight of the world's children in a similar way if we are to make an impression.

Working across boundaries of historical prejudice, national intolerance and misunderstanding, competitive market practices and economic expediency, we can, together, work to honour and appreciate the greatest gift we can be given - our children and their childhood - and the love they elicit and give.

We want to create something like the ethical pressure group Amnesty International on behalf of childhood, so that eventually attitudes will change, and a greater understanding can come about as to what childhood means and what it has meant to all of us. We could accordingly act with greater responsibility and insight. A romantic vision, perhaps, but it is clear that the pressures against a good quality and nourishing childhood are growing for too many children. A stand must now be taken.

Each culture and country will have its own particular priorities, strengths as well as deficiencies. By working internationally we can share expertise and enthusiasm to help each other, find mutual support and sources of courage and energy. With an interested respect for each other's endeavours and viewpoints we can widen our own horizons to become more supportive of each other.

The gifts of a real childhood are creativity, wonder and imagination and, by extending these qualities into our adulthood, we can help those future generations who will be born into an increasingly complex and fragile world to enjoy their right to childhood. We have to take practical steps. By becoming a partner in the Alliance you can help us explore what these steps may be and become colleagues in implementing them. The conference and this collection of papers are initial and experimental steps in this direction.

September 2000