‘Let the children play’ - NCC reflects on issues facing our children |10 October 2015

While promoting a broad range of policies and practices essential to children’s well-being, the National Council for Children works intensively to highlight a few critical issues which affect our children today.

Among these are child development issues such as their need to play, child abuse, uncaring adults, excessive amount of time spent in front of TV and computer screens, increasing commercialisation of childhood, and increasing levels of childhood obesity in Seychelles.

Educators around the world have begun to recognise serious concerns with issues that kids have to deal with today.  Some of these issues are new as our society begins to adapt to a faster pace of life while others have always been there but are now being brought to the attention of the public so that solutions can be found.

Our problems begin at home. Since the 1970s, here in Seychelles the number of single parent homes has consistently increased. Economically, a single parent is likely to bring less income home and raising children and providing for them single-handedly can be really tough.  While a lot of children seem to fare very well without the guidance of a second pair of arms, eyes and ears, researches done in other countries have indicated that some of them become subject to higher dropout rates, higher risk of dangerous sexual behaviours and pregnancies, higher chances of drug and alcohol abuse, etc.

We used to say it takes a whole village to raise a child. Now the trend is each family has to fend for itself (bef dan disab saken vey son lizye), but it truly takes a whole village to raise a child. How did we get to where we are now?

With the introduction of television in the early 1980s a lot of foreign influences have also crept in our homes. Our kids have been growing up watching almost every actor and actress on television screens with a cigarette in hand and consuming glasses of alcohol implying that smoking and drinking is cool. As a result almost everyone is doing it now, including women and children. As awareness to the danger of smoking increased, the “cool” images of smoking started to disappear but unfortunately the same can’t be said for drugs and alcohol in our society.

Similar to what we see with alcohol and drugs, sex is also a very popularly portrayed subject matter. The movies, TV, the internet, essentially everywhere a kid turns, he or she is bombarded with sexual imagery. In fact, a lot of television materials are marketing these images disguisedly directly to our kids. The music industry is also party to it. As a result we find that kids are having sex as early as 10 and 11 years old, with the figures for teenage pregnancies going up. Our children are losing their innocence at a very early age.

We also find our kids growing fatter and fatter. Chubbiness in kids used to be accepted as a sign of well-being but no more – our children are not chubby but obese.

Video games, TV, the internet and junk food are partly to blame. Kids are spending more time sitting in front of a TV/computer screen rather than running around and playing with their friends outside. This sedentary lifestyle has consequences.

Socially, it’s no secret that overweight kids are going to be the subject of ridicule from their peers – it’s sad, but nevertheless true. This can result in such issues as low self-esteem, depression, etc. Then there are the health concerns. High blood pressure, diabetes and other maladies that are associated with obesity. Psychologically and physically, obesity is an issue that can be resolved with a simple increase in activity and awareness.

We have to return to basics – our children need to play. They need to play in a relaxed, unstructured way, preferably outdoors with other children and as they grow older, away from the eagle eyes of the adults. Children develop physical control and co-ordination through running, jumping, climbing, skipping or kicking a football around. They gain first-hand experience of the world they’re going to live in by making mud-pies or paddling in puddles or messing about in a sandpit, riding a bicycle or climbing a tree. These experiences underpin the understanding of the world on which human science and learning are based. Without play, children’s imagination and creativity are likely to be stunted. So too, are their social skills. It’s through playing with other children, without adult interference that kids learn how to make friends, resolve quarrels, work in collaboration and indeed avoid making enemies. They also learn how to take “safe risks” and make their own judgements, hence developing their independence and self-reliance.

As far as play is concerned, our society hasn't just taken its eye off the ball, we've completely lost track of it. So as we start conversations around issues of quality education, sustainable development, climate change, the blue economy, moral renaissance and good governance, educators, politicians, parents, youths and every member of the community must put their heads together to find ways of providing more secure, healthy family lifestyles for our children if we want them to grow strong in body, mind and spirit. For indeed,  they are our future and in terms of our nation’s future; unless, very soon, we start attending to the well-being of our children and tackle the growing problems which affect their mental health and well-being , the next generation may not be bright or balanced enough to keep our economy healthy and our nation together.

Contributed