To think there needs to be a public inquiry into child development

[MaryMaryVeryContrary]

It really seems like we have a looming societal crisis in terms of child development and therefore the quality of the public in 10-20 years time. Experienced teachers across the board seem to be reporting an overwhelming increase in delayed, aggressive and disruptive children. I’m extremely worried about how this will impact society when they become adults - it seems (as a guess) at least a tenth of children will be incapable of work of any kind, and many more will need copious amounts of support to live any kind of responsible life.

AIBU to think we need an urgent public inquiry into this and what is going on? It seems to be the elephant in the room and anybody who tries to discuss it is shouted down.

I’m sure some of it is due to cuts in services but surely that can’t account for it all - it’s very sudden and extremely alarming.

Weak/ineffective parenting.

A general lack of resilience.

A lack of discipline and respect at school and kids being able to push back because 'they know their rights'. When kids are disciplined, parents will back their kids and not the school.

Too much reliance on screens (parents and kids)

Poor diet and lack of exercise

Essentially I think kids need strict boundaries and consequences, they need to have some emotional resilience and the ability to just tough it out and get on with things rather than being pandered to the whole time.

Because that is what they will encounter as adults when they get out into the real world and so many of them are being set up for failure.

Schools were much more draconian 20-40 years ago than now! When I was at school teachers shouted at you, detention was chipping gum off desks and litter picking on a Saturday, you would be sat facing a wall as a punishment or doing lines. Then you’d be smacked when you got home for cheeking the teachers and embarrassing your parents.

In terms of speech issues etc
I mean this in the nicest way that children who are born with conditions like genetics conditions / defects / prematurity are now surviving much more than they used to.
these all impact a child’s development.

At least 50% of poor classroom behaviour in early years and KS1 is probably down to children being overwhelmed.

Cognitive abilities are not fully developed until the ages of 6-7 - the part of the brain that leads to abstract thinking like writing or adding & subtracting. That's why many countries start schooling around that age.
I agree some is poor parenting, it's easier to give your child a label than actually addressing the behaviour. (I know that kind of thinking is unpopular on MN)
Society as a whole is far more lenient and forgiving towards children Poor behaviour at a young age is seen as spirited or cute...
No fear factor or drive to achieve something. Because lets face it, DC get most things handed on a plate. Wanna ice cream? Here you go... Wanna phone? here you go.... Wanna xbox? Here you go...

There were no institutions in the 90s. I really think the numbers are far higher although I would be interested in comment on this from any nursery or early years professionals on here

Yep and in those time there was still children who were sen or had bad home lives etc but they were not understood and punished or not given a change at mainstream education at all.

I think the education system doesn't help actually. My daughter would completely fall apart if she had to go to a school with super strict uniform requirements or where something like forgetting pencil gets you in trouble.

Like PP said above, the expectations on children in KS1 are insane. Homework for 5 year olds? I didn't have that when I was that age 30 years ago.

I work in mental health and I actually agree. I feel it's been a steady decline since lock down I'd say, not just in children/teens/early 20s but also adults. The cases we see now are so much more complex, risk is sky high 🙈 I feel the general population is more stressed and it's causing these type of issues

In the 90s children with additional needs were not in mainstream school in such high numbers as they are now

And there were definitely still some supported living environments that were more like institutions not just in the 90s but even later than that

I am no longer a class teacher but still go into schools regularly. I honestly think the ridiculous stuffing of the curriculum and totally inappropriate priorities are to blame ESPECIALLY after covid (alongside the failed experiment in 'inclusion' of kids who desperately need and deserve special needs places).

Kids until secondary need to move, play, paint, sing, learn to read, learn to add up and to be kind to one another. That's it. If we stripped back the academic expectations teachers would have more time to spend on social and emotional skills which kids desperately need and frankly secondary schools need them to have more than they need advance writing skills or complex mathematics. Those can be taught if kids arrive at secondary with the ability to learn them.

Parents giving their children smartphones instead of spending time with them and talking to them is the biggest problem in my opinion.

"There were no institutions in the 90s. "

There are still institutions in all but name now. Supported living in the community is recent.

I’m convinced it’s screens as others have said as it’s affecting every societal group and age. When the studies have been completed, we may find today’s 40+ year olds can concentrate and perform better cognitively than our young people as they’re the last generation to grow up without endless on-demand technology.

I saw a new low today in a highly affluent area with a parent who was chatting on the phone happily while pushing a buggy. I can say nothing about the child other than it had legs: the hood was pulled down low to avoid the sun and to keep an iPad propped up blocking the view for the child. It’s sunny and warm here today, not that the baby saw any of it.. Sad.

My DDad was a teacher in a SEN school 40 years ago. He was one of the first teachers to be trained in autism. Now there aren't those schools. But the kids existed. They just weren't as visible. Also I used to work with adults with learning difficulties. Many spent their school years in a separate room colouring in. They had a love of learning but were shut away. That wasn't so long ago.

It’s horrible seeing a baby or toddler in a pushchair with a smartphone propped up for them to stare at. It’s fucking terrible parenting.

This definitely doesn't accurately describe the norm in the 90's or 00s (20-30 years ago). In the 90s my state secondary school was considered 'strict' at the time but was very, very far from zero tolerance. Kids were only excluded for violent or very aggressive behaviour. Not doing your homework rarely resulted in any consequences bar a reminder that you were only hurting yourself.

Would it be fair to say that as a childminder that you don't encounter the full spectrum of society? Most if not all of your clients will be working parents who earn enough to pay for childcare and are able to provide a reasonable level of organisation and support for their children. You won't be meeting the children from the most deprived backgrounds who have been most impacted by austerity and cuts to support services.

I agree with pp that screens and they way people interact with their children is a massive issue though. I also think the high-levels of environmental pollution and chemicals in our food are having horrible impacts on humans as a species but perhaps we don't fully grasp the extent of this.

I honestly believe its down to wishy washy parenting. You can't discipline them anymore. They know their teachers can't touch them and their parents won't either.

People can be outraged and cry abuse all they like but it's a fact that children's behaviour has gone downhill in recent years. I'm obviously not advocating caning the little sods but knowing you'd get a smacked backside when you got home did tend to discourage most of our misbehaviour.

I saw a kid several weeks ago screaming 'you cunt' at his mother and telling her to fuck off, he was going to smash her phone and dad will get it for him, over wanting something in poundland. He must have been about 12.

Now I'd not even have got as far as fuck off before my arse was glowing. I'd never dare speak like that to my mother! And if I had been stupid enough to go to my dad after that, I'd have got another one from him. Kids have no lines that they dare not cross anymore. Because what happens if they do? Nothing. They lose their phone for a day. Big deal. Parents just don't parent anymore.

I was reading a thread on Gransnet just the other day where people were really worried about their GCs development. Many of them are still wearing nappies and taking bottles at 4 or 5 years old. Many can't use knives and forks at 10 years old and use their fingers to eat. Most of them have little concept of how to socialise. I agree with OP. It sounds like a timebomb.

Yes, junk food, too. Many parents don’t have the faintest idea how to prepare a wholesome meal.

When I was 14 it was suggested I be sent to a residential unit because of my difficulties being so severe (selective mutism , school refusing, obsessive behaviour anorexia etc). I was drugged up on Prozac and something else which I don’t remember the name of. Seen by a psychiatrist and social worker weekly, everyone begging me to tell them the reason I was ‘depressed’ . Being shouted at for lying when I said I didn’t feel depressed or unhappy - that I just felt weird/strange/floaty (disassociation)/unable to talk sometimes etc etc.

They wanted me to go for ‘at least 6 months’ and told me my family wouldn’t be allowed to visit as that wouldn’t help - I’ve since seen the place they wanted me to go to as teenagers were abused there . My parents refused to allow it. As a young adult I was diagnosed with ASD . I know at my school there were a handful of us all feeling the same. Now all of my dc have ASD and many friends have multiple dc with a wide ranger of difficulty ranging from speech delay, global development delay, ASD etc. something needs doing and it does need investigating so that plans can be made for future support

There is definitely something going on. I don’t teach myself any more, but I’m still very involved in local schools (volunteer and governor) and it is quite striking how things have changed for the worse in the few years since I had my own class.

Privately, the many teachers in my circle put it down to a combination of two time-poor working parents, excessive screen time from birth, poor diet (UPFs) and more premature babies surviving with additional needs. But they’d never dare to air these opinions in public as they are so unpopular, with many parents immediately becomIng defensive if you suggest that any of these factors might be feeding into the issue. There is a lot of wilful denial going on I think.

I agree that we are probably storing up problems for the future, with many children never reaching their full potential.

I started teaching in 1996. I had kids with high support needs and complex dx in my classes back then, but the curriculum was far more flexible and it was far easier to meet the needs of the majority of the class. The rise of MATs with their inflexible policies and teaching by numbers curriculum has made it very difficult to motivate and engage those who would have been fine.

Also, I’ve recently finished reading Johann Hari’s book ‘Stolen Focus’, about screen/social media addiction and, while it’s not perfect as a book, it does explain a lot about why we are where we are right now - alarming but enlightening, especially on the power of the algorithm and how screen use essentially rewires developing brains.

I don’t think it’s any one thing but tired stressed parents, tired stressed teachers, lack of funding in early years, terrible school curriculum.
My parents were pretty uninterested in me, they made me behave with threats of violence and I was expected to be quiet if we were out somewhere, we would definitely have been given screens to shut us up if they had existed. I think shit parenting has always been a thing, it’s just more judged and more obvious now.
One of my DCs has ASD and can’t cope for more than a couple of days a week at her primary. She would have been fine in the primary school I went to. Smaller classes, no testing and generally a far more relaxed environment.
TBH there seems to be a decline in the behaviour of some adults so it’s not really surprising we are seeing the same in kids.