The Stolen Childhood

I listened to the children’s writer Michael Morpurgo’s recent Richard Dimbleby lecture on childhood. This made me think of children and their experiences of childhood. I occasionally volunteer to babysit my friends’ children. Some might wonder that spending an afternoon or a Friday evening with children is not the past-time of choice for a twenty-something year old Londoner. Well, I can understand that. But one thing I love about children is their innocence, their ability to make me see things from a child’s perspective, reading books by Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl remind me of my own childhood and help me to take a step back and pause, away from the hustle and bustle of my other life.

I can notice the changes too. I tell you, the new Disney Aladdin is very different from the one of my childhood, again to show you how technology has changed, but also a sign of how quickly time flies! Or it going for walks with my little friends, observing the way they notice everything, the clouds, the flowers, the different colors they see. These are all the joys of childhood.

But there are many children who do not experience childhood as a thing of joy. The United Nations Convention on The Rights of the Child declares that every child should have a right to a name, to a nationality, access to health care, to play and recreation, to survival, to liberty and to an education. Yet there are many children for whom access to healthcare, play, recreation, survival, and education is not even a possibility. For these children, life is experienced through very different lenses. 8 million children die before they are five. About 3 million children (and I dare say that the numbers are higher than this) do not have access to education. Think about places with political struggles at the moment like Egypt, Libya – how do all these issues affect the children? In all the war-torn areas of the world, children are the forgotten victims. Children that have seen much more than many people see in their lifetime.

Or is it the stolen childhood of those children that work many hours in their own homes or in a relatives’ homes. Or those children who do not feel they belong anywhere. I have heard some personal stories, and they are worrying. I think back on my own childhood, a childhood lived in almost total innocence, where each passing year was marked by how I was going to celebrate my next birthday. Building sand castles, and playing with dolls and pretend-families. Mine was not a perfect childhood but it was happy. In fact, I do not think there is a perfect childhood. But I do know that there are things that can be done to reduce the unhappy ones.

It is very encouraging to hear people speaking about children and what can be done to make the world a better place for them. And we all can do something. C.R.E.A.T.I.V. has raised money for the SOS children’s charity in Nigeria, and is currently working with Child Life Line. Why? Because the Africa of the future depends on the children of today.

For the full transcript of the lecture, visit http://www.michaelmorpurgo.com/news/read-michaels-dimbleby-lectur/

Adun