Natural Selection

Just thought I’d share with you one of the sessions of a seminar I attended on Sunday on Mental Health, Childhood and Autism. The particular session, delivered by Rob Santich, an Herbalist with 25 years experience was on resilience in children and the emerging factors in today’s society which place ever more pressures on children to be as resilient as ever.

Whether you agree with them or not here are some of the factors that really struck a chord with me

1. The fact that we live in an economy instead of a community, which values predatory capitalism. This capitalism breeds a culture of consumerism which, in turn, favours a false sense of self-esteem created by over-permissiveness. It also paints a picture of success which is dictated by the number of possessions a family owns. Advertising in the consumer world creates expectations which can never fully be achieved and which therefore results, in the long run, in low self esteem.

2.The role of the media in promoting the unrealistic aims of consumerism not only in advertising but in placing social identities on pedestals which promote narcissism as the ideal. 

3. Capitalization also favours urbanisation which physically reduces the amount of green spaces children can play in, thereby creating a disconnect with nature and corresponding increase in behavioural problems. This is interesting for me as I did quite a bit of research in my health promotion days on the link between adequate green spaces and physical activity. Evidently there is also a direct link on child mental health, not just via the increased exercise involved in improved access to green spaces.

4. An education system which currently has an ideology rooted in continuous standardised assessment rather than the promotion of free thought and opinion.  This current system is placing undue stress on the families of primary school children.

Arthur Ashe said “Success is a journey, not a destination” and if you consider childhood as the start of one long journey it seems to me these pressures create a generation of children that have very little hope of being happy, successful adults. As a society there needs to be a complete shift in consciousness, a re-evaluation of what is truly important in life.