Is a Carefree, Worry Free Childhood Gone Forever?
A commentary by Graemme Marshall
United Church of God pastor, Ottawa, Canada
How well I remember The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark
Twain. It captured many children's imagination, mine included.
It pictured childhood as carefree with fun, worry-free, sun-filled days.
Sadly, this is not the childhood most children experience today.
When I was a boy, in the 1950's, my days were filled with friends,
bicycles, swimming, beachcombing, and climbing trees. There were no TV's,
computers or videos, and no terrorism. Yet today, according to recent
surveys, childhood is a worrisome time for most children. Will childhood
ever return to the carefree days pictured in the fictional lives of Tom
Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn?
Consider a shocking survey of approximately 1,000 young Australians
between 10 and 17. Conducted by the Australian Childhood Foundation, it
indicates that "one in four children believe the world will
end in their lifetime." Also, 39% worry about having to face
terrorism in the future. And 27% are concerned the world will end before
they get old. Terrorism, cancer and crime are also major fears ("Kids
Worry End Is Nigh," News Limited, news.com.au, August 6,
2006).
Three quarters of the youth surveyed agreed that children are growing
up faster than they used to. This concern mirrors a recent UK study which
found that 60% of children thought they "grew up too quickly." These
findings also match an earlier 2005 Australian Childhood Foundation study
that found that 85% of parents thought children are growing up too fast.
One of the study's authors, Dr. Joe Tucci (a social worker, psychologist
and the Foundation's CEO) commented, "The picture of childhood
in this study is concerning. The findings show children experience growing
up too fast into an uncertain future that is a source of stress and worry." He
also said, "The findings are challenging the traditional idea that
childhood is a carefree time of life focused on having fun in the here
and now. Results highlight significant numbers of children worry about
what futures hold."
The study shows that childhood as experienced by youth today is very
different from that of their parents. While many parents a generation
ago had a carefree, happy childhood, their own children do not enjoy
the same worry free experience. Dr. Tucci explained that children are
probably pushed toward adulthood today by witnessing graphic displays
of violence, such as crime, terrorism and war on television, the internet
and in video games.
A powerful positive finding of the study was that 87% of the children
surveyed thought that family was the most important thing. That is a
good conclusion.
Yet a growing number of today's parents fail to teach their children
the values essential for a worry-free life. A different study reveals
that less than half of Australia's young people believe in a God,
many believe there is little truth in religion (Generation Y Turning
Away from Religion, Fairfax Newspapers, theage.com.au, August
6, 2006). This three-year national study of Monash University, the Australian
Catholic University and the Christian Research Association, found that
young people are increasingly following a secular path. The survey found
that 20% of young people (born between 1976 and 1990) did not believe
in God, while 32% were unsure.
Seventeen per cent have an eclectic, disjointed spirituality, believing
in two or more "New Age", esoteric or eastern beliefs, including
reincarnation, psychics and astrology. More than 30% of Generation Y
are classified as "humanists," rejecting the idea of God,
although some believed in a "Higher Being." Robert Forsyth,
Anglican Bishop of South Sydney, said, "This is the first generation
who probably know nothing about Christ, except those who go to Christian
schools."
Edna St. Vincent Millay (an American poet, 1892-1950) penned the words, "Childhood
is the kingdom where nobody dies. Nobody that matters, that is." Her
words are symbolic of how childhood should be—carefree, wonderful
days without tragedies or worries.
Will such carefree childhood days ever happen again? Biblical prophecy
shows they will, under the rule of Jesus Christ soon after His return. "This
is what the Lord Almighty says: 'Once again men and women of ripe
old age will sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with cane in hand
because of his age. The city streets will be filled with boys and
girls playing there'" (Zechariah 8:5, New International
Version).
But even before Christ returns God promises that a work will be underway
to "turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart
of the children to their fathers"—to restore godly family
relationships (Malachi 4:5-6).
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