How we're failing our children

IN the 'good old days' kids roamed the back streets freely, climbed trees and played outside until the lack of light forced them home for tea. Theirs was the sort of childhood that was largely conducted without the help of constant television, computers and cars in every drive.

These days, in comparison, many children hardly get any exercise at all, spending their spare time staring at screens and leading fairly cosseted lives. But that's not the only change: because of the hectic pace of modern life and the tendency to have smaller families, for increasing numbers of children, much of the time spent at home is spent alone, sitting passively watching moving images.

So apart from the relative lack of exercise and a diet lacking in 'essential fatty acids' contained in food such as oily fish, there is now a concern among specialists that many modern children have what has been called a "co-ordination deficit".

We have all heard about the soaring levels of obesity among children but just as important, as far as County Durham educational psychologist Dr Madelaine Portwood is concerned, is the lack of interaction between parents and children and the fact that too much is done for children.

This is particularly crucial during the child's pre-school years when physical changes in the brain are influenced by stimulation, experience and practice-makes-perfect activity.

It is far too easy to leave a child sitting in front of a TV screen for long period of time instead of talking to or playing with them. But this failure to engage with your child in the vital pre-school years can disadvantage them when they get to school. One worry is that youngsters today are not crawling as much as they used to between the baby and toddler stage, missing out on a crucial development phase.

Few people realise that by playing and interacting with your child you are encouraging greater inter-connectivity in the brain, creating pathways which can help youngster develop skills and creativity later in life.

"If we look at Government statistics, more than half of all children entering nursery school are failing to achieve the expected levels," says Dr Portwood, who has worked in County Durham schools for two decades.

"We are talking about their ability to communicate, understand letters and numbers, their social skills and their language development. Basically, can they be understood and can they understand other people?

"By the time they reach about four they should have an extensive vocabulary, they should be able to communicate and cooperate with other children, but standardised tests show that children are becoming less able over time. As a psychologist specialising in the early years, I see more and more significant co-ordination difficulties and more children failing to acquire skills which are vital later in life."

The psychologist, who has recently acquired a high media profile thanks to her appearance on programmes such as The Human Mind, Child of Our Time and Horizon, talking about the nutritional importance of eating more foods containing Omega 3 fatty acids, accepts that much of this is difficult to change.

"We are talking about the modern lifestyle, a sedentary lifestyle where children don't cycle or walk to school because there are more cars on the road," she says.

But there are many things that a parent can do to stimulate their child.

"If parents knew what would be helpful to their child, they would want to work with their children at home. This would take the emphasis away from schools having the responsibility to help children catch up."

That's why Dr Portwood decided to approach UK retail giant Boots to see if they were interested in producing a user-friendly child development programme parents could use at home. "My aim was to devise a number of enjoyable activities where adults and children could be involved in constructive playing together," she says.

After a year of development work and encouragement by Boots' head of child development, Helen Bowring, the finished product - a brightly coloured pack containing the MentisXL Child Development Programme - recently started appearing on the shelves of larger Boots stores up and down the country.

The packs contain an instruction manual, a DVD and support materials including a blue rolled-up fabric 'ladder', four foot-templates, 108 assorted plastic shapes, two large coloured discs, two 'blackboards', a turtle beanie, a soft ball and a wrist strap.

The ingenious programme allows parents to assess the skills of their child and then use a variety of tools and toys to extend those skills.

The idea is that by half an hour a day 'constructive play' each day, youngsters can improve their communication, coordination and language skills, ticking off a range of activities on a checklist.

The accompanying DVD shows a variety of mostly County Durham parents and pupils using the enclosed materials as part of structured activities.

One of the first things the parent is asked to do is to unroll the fabric 'ladder' and watch while their child performs a number of tasks such as walking in a straight line, following foot templates and standing on one leg. This leads on to a number of different activities in which children are encouraged to crawl, make eye contact with adults, repeat sounds and learn the importance of rhyming words. The pack also helps youngsters to understand that they need to share and wait their turn.

A nursery teacher from County Durham, who asked not to be named, used the programme with her three-year-old daughter for six months.

"I found this programme to be a breath of fresh air and a great support for parents. The focus is on getting parents to work with their children to properly stimulate the child's brain," she says. "You are shown exactly how to do this and the children just see the activities as great fun. The most important thing is getting children to think and solve problems for themselves. This programme does just that."

Catherine Hardie, from Great Lumley, near Chester-le-Street, County Durham, says she was amazed at the impact of the MentisXL pack on her five-year-old twins Eva and Lily.

"The results have been brilliant. The beauty of it is they enjoy doing it, they don't get bored and they don't realise that it is an educational toy," she says. "It seems to improve their memory and coordination."

The twins, who attend Lumley Medway Infant School near Chester-le-Street are featured on the MentisXL pack's accompanying DVD, along with other pupils and parents.

Dr Portwood is optimistic that with the backing of Boots she can begin to make an impact on a largely unseen, unacknowledged problem which she believes is holding back the children of Britain.

* The pack is available from Boots larger stores or online from www.boots.com or www.Mentisxl.org