The New Child: in search of smarter grown-ups,
(read review, The Age) by Don & Patricia Edgar, is a challenging book on how
Australian childhood is changing, and what needs to be done by parents, teachers
and policy-makers to meet the needs of the 21
st century child.
Every day we read in the media about the crisis of contemporary childhood: today's kids are out of control - too fat, too indulged, too knowing, and too quick to grow up.
But is the crisis real or invented? In this fascinating book Don Edgar and Patricia Edgar argue that the crisis is real and has its roots in recent changes in the way we live. Ordinary family life has transformed. Online media technologies in which children are immersed from an early age have proliferated. The growth of individualism, an 'it's all about me' culture, together with the exploitation of children as consumers, have changed childhood dramatically.
Between them the Edgars have a wealth of expertise about childhood - as teachers, researchers, policy advisors and in children's media production. In The New Child they offer both parents and policy makers a positive action plan that addresses the whole problem, not just parts of it.
This up-to-the-moment book also discusses what parents need to know about new media such as video games, and introduces the latest ideas in early childhood development - the sort of ideas that are guiding the Rudd government in its 'education revolution' and its plan to introduce co-located children's services.
"While certain aspects of childhood endure, every era, and especially a rapidly changing one, needs to monitor changes in family, media, and life opportunities. With a welcome blend of social science, common sense, cultural observations and personal reflection, Don Edgar and Patricia Edgar help us to understand the children of today, and of tomorrow."
(Howard Gardner, Professor of Cognition and Education, Harvard University)
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