Too Much Too Soon?

                                    Todd happily playing, throwing pebbles in the sea.

I spoke recently about how our natural world is being eradicated with horrible speed and how those we look to in power are accelerating this decline for financial gain.

We live in a toxic culture now, informed not by simplicity or contentment, but by ambition, materialism and greed. I read an interesting article recently in The Guardian which threw up some frightening statistics regarding the effect this is having on our children and their consumerist, screen-based lifestyle.

It stated that we are putting our children through a life which is a life-denying, love-denying mindset. By placing our babies in nursery schools, so that we can go out and earn big bucks to buy our big houses, fast cars and modern technology, we are failing to understand the messages we are sending our children. Ambition and material gain cannot compensate for what it displaces: family life, innocence, childhood and living in the moment.

Because we can, we bombard our children with toys and gadgets from infancy, for young children this can be a sensory overload, toys that sing, toys that dance, toys that leave little to the imagination,  when actually,  children want to explore and use creativity, hence why they still love simple things like throwing pebbles in the sea or playing with pots and pans or empty cardboard boxes - often having ignored the all singing, all dancing, very expensive toy within.

When Bert was a toddler I would take him to Hastings beach, we would always go directly to a charity shop in the old town where he was allowed to choose two matchbox cars from the 10p box. Cars secured, I would spread a blanket on the pebbles and Bert, after a dip in the sea, would play happily with his cars amongst the pebbles for ages.

In an age of parental stress we project our anxieties onto our children and academics say Britain has the 'lowest levels of children's wellbeing in the developed world'. Spending days on the beach with little more than a simple toy and a jam sandwich no longer measures up to the technological gadgets they have become addicted to. Consequently, children aren't interacting or being taught play skills, rather, because we can afford to, and because we're too tired not to, we're substituting our quality time with our children and handing them over to technological babysitters.

Between 1999 and 2014, mental health beds for children in England increased by 50% but still fail to meet demand, thus children are being dumped in adult wards or ending up in police cells. Children admitted to hospital due to self harm has risen by 68% in ten years. Isolated in their bedrooms, an estimated 5.43 million young people in the UK have experienced cyberbullying, with parents so distanced from their children, 40% do not know how to respond if their child is cyberbullied.

 The erosion of 'childhood' in Britain has continued apace since 2006 with British parents trapping children in a cycle of compulsive consumerism by showering them with toys and designer labels instead of spending quality time with them. Children need to go out and play, explore and take risks and as a society, we all have a stake in making sure there is time for family life and a natural environment where children are free to cherish their childhoods.

I always state the obvious regarding gardening and cooking with children, these are simple old fashioned pleasures that are being eroded by modern life. My friend Jenny recently came to my door with her small son Alfie who was proudly clutching a bunch of homegrown rhubarb. Alfie helps dad in the garden and mum in the kitchen and is a very sociable, active little boy who gets to enjoy life beyond a computer screen. I decided to make an old family favourite, rhubarb crumble, here's the recipe.

Rhubarb crumble

Recipe
500g rhubarb, chopped into chunks the length of your thumb
100g golden castor sugar
Juice and zest of 1 orange
For the crumble topping
140g self raising flour
85g butter, chilled

Preheat oven to 180c/gas 4
Place the chopped rhubarb in a medium sized saucepan with the orange juice and zest, sugar and 2 tablespoons of water

Bring to the boil, turn down heat and simmer for 5 minutes until rhubarb is soft
Transfer to oven dish

Cut the butter into chunks and rub it into the flour until you get a mixture like fine breadcrumbs
Sprinkle the crumble topping over the rhubarb and bake in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes

Enjoy with custard, cream or ice cream.

'When I grow up I want to be a little boy.'
- Joseph Heller

Love Donna xxxxxx