Taking Back Childhood

In her new book, Taking Back Childhood, Exchange author Nancy Carlsson-Paige writes that childhood culture has changed dramatically in just one generation. Social trends — screen time, commercialism, sped-up daily life, violence and sexualization, academic pressures — are changing how children experience their early years. Carlsson-Paige observes:

“When corporations pitch their wares to kids, it’s not just products they’re selling through the increasingly sophisticated campaigns their marketers devise. It’s also a mindset — one that tells kids, ‘You’ll be happy if you have this toy, if you eat this food, if you look this way.’ One result is that from an early age many children get the message that happiness comes from acquiring things, which undermines their ability to find satisfaction and to meet their basic developmental needs through play and meaningful relationships with others. As we learn more about how commercialism is harming our children, we’ll see that, despite its pervasiveness, there are many ways to counteract its destructive influence.”

Carlsson-Paige suggests steps adults can take to counteract the harm to children from current social trends:

• Keep it simple with toys. Remember that fewer is better, simpler is better.
• Reduce television time, especially children’s exposure to commercial TV.
• Avoid substituting material things for emotional expression and connection.
• Find regular times to be together as a family and encourage children to contribute to family life as a way of caring rather than a means to getting a material reward.
• Help children find peace and sanctuary through connecting to the natural world.
• Help children explore their own unique talents and interests, and show your interest in their activities by making descriptive rather than evaluative comments about what they do.
• Point out ads, talk about why they exist, and ask open-ended questions that encourage children to think more about marketing, keeping children’s ways of seeing the world in mind.
• Prepare kids ahead of time for visits to a store.
• Help children learn how to handle the urge to buy without giving into it.
• As children get older, talk with them about our interconnections with the people and conditions that produce the items we consume.