The New Child - In Search of Smarter Grown-ups explains how it is grown-ups, not the children themselves, who are the problem; it is politicians who fail to invest in early childhood development; parents, child care workers and teachers who don't understand the new technology and who fail to offer firm guidelines for children struggling to forge their own identity; employers unsympathetic to the needs of parents struggling to meet both their work and family responsibilities; singles who fail to see that a future without children is a future without hope of regeneration. Patricia and Don Edgar call for a new, more integrated, approach to children's policy, one that restores a sense of community-wide responsibility for the development of children and rejects the rampant individualism that puts the onus on parents alone. The book is a rallying cry for a fresh look on the way we think about children, their needs and future development.
