Dismal condition of Child Well Being in the United States

Greetings



Recently a board member sent me the UNICEF Innocenti Report on Child Poverty in perspective: An Overview of Child Well-Being in Rich Countries.



This report looked at six different areas of child well being in 25 countries around the world. These countries are predominently European with the United States and Canada included. The findings were based on data collected by each country.



The areas of well being looked at for the purpose of this report are: Material Well Being, Health and Safety, Educational Well Being, Family and Peers Relationship, Behaviors and Risks and Subjective Well Being. The last area used a survey of 11, 13 and 15 year olds who responded to questions posed by the interviewers.



All you have to do in order to get depressed is scan the charts that show the ranking of countries in each of the areas of well being. The United States come in at the bottom in nearly every one of the area unless the chart is showing negative results and then we score pretty high. I was almost thankful to the United Kingdom as that country was usually just above or below us.



A summary of the results show the following:

• The Netherlands scored the highest in child well being


• The European countries consistently dominated the top half of the charts, especially the Nordic countries who scored high in all areas.


• The United States and the United Kingdom were in the bottom third in five of the six areas of child well being


• There was no obvious relationship between levels of child well being and a country's GDP

In case you don't want to read the whole report or check out all the charts, I have summarized some of the findings below. Be warned, you will not feel good about what you read.

The US scored last out of 25 countries in Health and Safety. The measures used were:

• Death rate of children before the age of one


• Percentage of low birth rate


• Percentage of childrenbetween the ages of 12-23 months who are immunized (we didn't do too badly on this one)


• Number of deaths per accident (we did badly on this)

The US scored 14th of 25 on Educational Well Being. The measures used were:

• School achievement by age 15 in the following area:Average achievement in reading, math and science literacy


• Percentage of 15-19 year olds remaining in education


• Percentage of 15 year olds expecting to get low skill jobs

The US scored 21st of 25 in the achievement of 15 year olds in reading, math and science.

The US scored 24th of 25 in Relationships of young people to families and peers. The measures used were:

• Percentage of children in single parent families.


• Percentage of children in stepfamilies


• Percentage of children reporting eating main meal with their parents more than once a week


• Percentage of children reporting that they spend time with their parents "just talking"


• Percentage of children who find their peers kind and helpful.

Have you had enough? This report is so depressing and such an indictment of the adults in the United States. Clearly, we are a country that does not value children. Clearly, we are a country that doesn't keep its children safe or healthy. Clearly, we are a country that has a hard time carving out some time in our busy lives to "just talk" to our children.

I don't have any answers to what we should or shouldn't do. Obviously we can learn from other countries who have clearly put their children in a much more valued position. We can start advocating loudly and consistently for better health care, high quality child care, decent wages for child care providers and teachers and everyone else who works with children and their parents. We can begin to cherish our children as much or even more than we cherish our possessions. We can begin to stop thinking about "getting ahead" and figure out how to "get along". And even if you don't have children, you can still feel responsible for them.

The study begins with a quote (no author cited)

"The true measure of a nation's standing is how well it attends to its children-their health and safety, their material security, their education and socialization and their sense of being loved, valued, and included in the families and societies into which they are born."

Surely we can reverse this disheartening trend. Surely we can move up that chart to a place that makes us all proud and that tells the rest of the world that we value our children and take care of them and keep them safe. Because if we can't or won't, then what's the point?

Jeanne

Is it good for the children?

Greetings

I recently attended a conference for a coalition of early learning providers and heard someone say that the group always asked the question "Is it good for the children?" whenever they make decisions affecting the children of their community. What a great idea! If we all could remember to ask that question before decisions were made, the world and our children would benefit.

There was a recent article in the New York Times magazine section that was titled
"When Should a Kid Start Kindergarten?" As I read this article, I kept thinking back the the question, "Is it good for the children?". Apparently "redshirting", the practice by parents to hold their children back a year from entering kindergarten, is increasing. Parents who do this want their children to be more socially and emotionally mature, enter kindergarten reading and knowing their numbers and letters and generally have an "edge". The vast majority of these parents are middle to upper middle income parents who can afford pre-school, high quality childcare and even private school for kindergarten and beyond.

So what about the kids whose parents have no choice? What if putting the child in kindergarten reduces the amount of money they have had to pay for childcare while they are at work? If their child has a birthday in August and is in a class with a child who also has a birthday in August but is a year older and has had enriched learning experiences prior to entering school, how does this younger child catch up?

I am not advocating that parents send kids to school if they think they are too young and won't have the advantage of maturity. Every parent should do what is best for her his child. However, the fact that "school readiness" has become more and more about having some basic academic skills instead of about children just having basic social skills has put a tremendous burden on the children and the parents. As the article states "Curriculum planners no longer ask, What does a 5-year-old need? Instead they ask, If a student is to pass reading and math tests in third grade, what does the student need to be doing in the prior grades?"

The article is fascinating and a "must read". Throughout it, I kept asking myself, "Is it good for the children?" I couldn't answer yes. Maybe the other question we need to keep asking is "What does the child need?" rather than "What does the child need to do".

Let me hear from you.

Jeanne