Childhood inquiry - Damaging priorities

TIME was that we’d dismiss more or less any social study carried out in Britain saying it was from a different culture and therefore irrelevant in Ireland.

However, it is not so easy to be smug when you can see the social changes under discussion all around you.

The Good Childhood inquiry, which was conducted over three years, found that an aggressive pursuit of personal success by adults is now the “greatest threat” to the wellbeing and happiness of children.

The inquiry reported that the belief among adults that our primary duty is to make the most of their own life rather than support others, encourages all sorts of social ills, from family breakdown to premature sexualisation of children and material inequality.

Though it may be as plain as the nose on your face, the report found that the “me-first” society produces more discord and conflict, more pressure to own things and excessive competition for children.

So, might we consider changing our priorities?