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HOW TO BETTER PROTECT OUR CHILDREN

by

Michael Gurian, from THE SOUL OF THE CHILD
(Atria Books: 2002)

Our children are under profound stress and pressure today. This fact is showing up especially in the proliferation of brain and other neural disorders. In the last two decades, incidents of the following disorders have skyrocketed: eating disorders, self-cutting, child addiction to alcohol and other substances, anti-social personality disorders, learning disabilities, autism, asperger's syndrome, child sleep disorders, ADD and ADHD, child depression and suicide, schizophrenia, child violence, and attachment disorders.
Our civilization feeds, shelters and clothes the bodies of our children better than it ever has, but sacrifices their souls. More than one quarter of our children experience one or more brain-related disorders during their childhood.
A new kind of child advocacy is crucial today--advocacy for the child's growing brain. This advocacy focuses on three brain stressors: direct trauma (such as child abuse and sexual molestation); lack of secure attachment between caregivers and children (especially during ages birth to three and ten to fifteen); and overstimulation (from media, overscheduled lives, mismanagement of child development by economy-driven families).

Here are ten things people do to better advocate for and protect America's children:

1. Increase bonding and attachment in the family. Bonding grows brain cells. Ideal for the child's brain is attachment with not only mom and dad, but also two others who become like second mothers (this is especially crucial in the early years) and second fathers (especially important during puberty).

2. Bring the extended family back into the raising of children. Human children are not meant to be raised by only two or only one parent. When grandparents and others don't live close by, make sure to create surrogate "grandparents," "uncles," "aunts"--often, having a godmother and god father for the child can satisfy this.

3. Insist on revision of daycare and school culture to fit the requirements of child bonding and attachment. Support daycares that show high quality child-adult ratios, daycares in which caregivers carry infants around on their chests or back. Support schools that show an understanding of emotional and character needs in children, not just instructional. Don't support daycares or schools that warehouse kids.

(SEE OVER)

4. Change corporate culture to fit child bonding needs. Only support corporations that care about children. Don't support corporations that provide no corporate daycare or other means of child-parent bonding support.

5. Control a child's media use, including computer use before the age of fourteen. Overuse of TV, computer and other media is negatively affecting the brain development of our children.

6. Increase the time children spend in the natural world by at least double. Nature is a brain's best friend--it calms stress and builds brain cells. In nature the brain hears sounds it can hear no where else.

7. Increase the time children spend in spiritual process (the process of understanding the mysteries of life, and experiencing joy and a sense of belonging). Sometimes an increase of religious life is needed, but sometimes the parents' religion is not fulfilling to the family--spiritual life benefits from religion but does not require it. A family can provide its own spiritual discussions, debates, and processes.

8. Understand the potential toxicity of a child's daily schedule. If he or she is running constantly from activity to activity, with bags under the eyes and no time to be a child, his or her brain is probably under toxic stress. A twelve year old, for instance, can get what is needed from one athletic, one social and one intellectual activity per day. He or she will also need down time.

9. Understand and act against the toxicity of contemporary diet and nutrition. Junk food in large quantities is toxic to brain development, causing stress to normal developmental patterns. Many of our contemporary brain disorders are affected by elements of diet such as sugar, fats, and carbohydrates.

10. Work toward families that are not mainly economy-driven--in which children are corporate interns being initiated into corporate and economic life from the day they're born--toward families that are driven by a holistic approach to child development: care for the whole soul of the child.