Childhood Lost: How American Culture Is Failing Our Kids

In this poignant collection of critical essays, voices from the social sciences and humanities come together to assess the degree to which American culture satisfies what editor Olfman calls the ""irreducible needs"" of its youth. ""Record levels of childhood obesity, asthma, high school failure, psychiatric disturbance, youth suicide, and preteen sex speak to the fact that we are failing our children,"" she says. Olfman organizes the essays so that they clearly demonstrate the link between such problems and society's apathetic acceptance of issues like commercial advertising to children and industrial destruction of the environment. The writers of each essay provide ample empirical research and disheartening statistics-""On average, children between the ages of two and eighteen spend almost forty hours a week outside of school consuming media""-to convince readers that American society is waging what economist Sylvia Hewlett and Princeton University professor Cornel West call ""The War Against Parents."" They argue, for example, that family-hostile governmental policies contribute to the breakdown of the family by forcing parents to work longer hours away from their kids and by keeping wages low so that adequate childcare is inaccessible. The resulting chain reaction of possible developmental problems is overwhelming. The U.S. is ""virtually alone,"" Olfman argues, in its failure to create policies that secure the health and well-being of its families. This collection makes a sincere effort to reemphasize parental and governmental responsibility to actively ensure that the society in which they live supports the well-being of their children. The book makes for a harsh reality check, but it is a must-read for anyone genuinely concerned with the future of children and their families.