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Last week when we were in Belfast putting finishing touches on plans for the 2009 World Forum, the UK media was abuzz with stories about a report released on the deteriotating status of childhood in the UK. This two-year study commissioned by the Church of England-affiliated Children's Society examined the mental and moral state of UK children at the ages of 5, 11, and 14 based on interviews with over 30,000 children and adults. A few highlights from the study's final report, A Good Childhood: Searching for Values in a Competitive Age by Richard Layard and Judy Dunn (available at Amazon.co.uk):

• The United Kingdom has some of the worst rates of child unhappiness, poverty, family breakdown, and child violence in the western world.
• Britain's cult of individualism, greed, and selfishness has so blighted children's lives that families and pupils need basic training in love and moral responsibility.
• Children can suffer mental health problems from spending too long watching television or surfing the Internet.
• Exposure to mass media has resulted in a generation of materialistic children
• The British exam system, which tests children at ages 7 and 11, makes British children "the most tested in the world." The tests "cast a cloud over classrooms" and encourage schools to ignore pupils who were unlikely to get good grades.

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If you are eager to see good stories about childhood around the world, check out From My Side: Being A Child. This is a beautiful hardcover book celebrating the authors' lifelong travels to countries throughout the world. Over 200 full-color photographs illustrate how children learn from their environment when they are engaged in everyday life activities. Ideal for home and school, educators and parents.

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