Remember, we played in the street until after dark, cavorted in the woods, the fields, on building sites and next to the river. Towns were safe, neighbours were safer and relatives were safer still. Or so we thought. Tearing down the road on a home made go-cart, riding bikes without a helmet and no one had ever heard of wearing a seat belt in cars. This meant we could lie around in the back of some cars, with a blanket and a few toys, pulling faces and pretending to shoot the occupants in the car behind while hurtling down the motorway at 70 mph. It didnt occur to anyone this wasnt safe. Walking the streets and shopping, hanging out with friends and going places alone, all before the age of 8. This was normal. Disappearing for the whole day with a packed lunch, riding your bike with a bunch of friends during the long awaited school holidays. This was normal too, and never a sign that parents didnt care or bother what was happening with their offspring. Adventures were a daily occurrence; in keeping with Enid Blyton adventures we all believed were our birthright. Getting cold, wet, sun burned and even swept out to sea and back were all part of living a healthy childhood. Getting into trouble, playing knock a door ginger, high tailing it away from an orchard after liberating half a dozen apples. A clip across the ear from your friendly local policeman when you over-stepped the line and needed to brought back. Communities. Neighbourhoods in which people all knew and cared for each other. These are not normal anymore. They happen, but you need to look hard and, according to all the bad news in the press, it isnt safe now. In truth, it never was. But we never knew that. Childhood for us lucky ones was a time of adventure, fun, tingling danger we never recognised as real danger and laughter. Are our children enjoying this kind of freedom? Probably not. Outdoor adventures have been replaced by vivid, ever more graphic indoor adventures on computer and television screens. Today you can fly through space, explore fantasy worlds, kill and be killed a thousand times a day, lead armies into battle, win grand prixs, have personal relationships with hundreds of people youll never meet and live in a virtual world that has no real danger, except to the mind, and our imagination. Im not one of those who go on about banning video games. Some of these games are fantastic, and although battling Orcs in Middle Earth or becoming a Jedi Knight wielding a light sabre are not the same as having a neighbourhood battle with dry pea guns, I reckon those pea battles were better. Its the difference between exploring the Amazon with David Attenborough on TV, and travelling there yourself and experiencing it all in real time. Using all of your senses. Pea-guns arent the same as light sabres, but they didnt need to be. Our imaginations compensated for any equipment we might have lacked, and memories of those times now are just as vivid as anything blockbuster filmmakers have managed to come up with. Were not looking after the imagination of our children. Childrens authors are now competing with multi-million dollar companies creating addictive high tech games that evolve as the players develop and improve. Movies dont even need actors anymore, with special effects able to create anything the director wants. It shows that our imagination isnt dead. The trouble is, from an early age children are taught to use less of their imagination and more logic. The emphasis on academic learning has overtaken the daydreamers, and it is the daydreamers who always come up with the new inventions, breakthroughs and technologies. And, naturally enough, the films and games kids love to see. Books are our gateway into another world. The more we read, the more our imagination grows and spreads. Printed books for children are still popular, but nothing like they used to be. The introduction of childrens interactive e-books has the potential to revolutionise reading and re-stimulate the imagination of young people around the world. Children are ensconced on their computer, so it is the task of childrens authors to take their work to their readers, and not hope the readers will simply come to them. |
