This is not an article about the Xmas turkey, which by rights we should stuff, as the stuffing is the only enjoyable thing to eat in a highly overrated bird in my view. It is another article on behalf of our children, whose welfare we are not guarding as we should. A local report on Children’s Right to Play found, totally unsurprisingly that we , as a society are very, very wanting in this area.

I mean, we love our kids to bits, don’t get me wrong, but we expect them to work longer hours than adults, we stuff them with information and expect them to regurgitate it twice yearly (and sometimes countless times more in preparatory tests in between), and worse still, this study found that even after school, most of the extra-curricular activities are academic-based. And this is not only true of 15-year-olds. This is true for kids aged a mere seven and up!

So it’s not just my opinion, or the opinion of a minority of mums at the school gate. 6,000 children were studied and the findings were alarming.

First, children’s free time is programmed for them. You know I used to come home from school and think about what I was going to do next, and do it. Our kids are timetabled from morning to night. And the result is clear. Many of them have no idea what to do when they are now given the choice, except of course switch on the telly or play mindless computer games.

Second, most of their free time is taken up with private lessons. This is a national disgrace. This situation of it being normal for teachers in our schools to give extra private lessons to our kids is a real problem and should be dealt with.

And third, that even when our kids do go to recreational activities, these tend to have a very competitive edge.

You know it’s not just about your son playing football. It’s about leagues, it’s about elimination of the weakest and survival of the fittest. For heaven’s sake, can we get a bit of perspective here? Why are we all so manically competitive anyway? I get so tired of hearing parents boast of the achievements of their little ones, of going to Parents’ Day where you see Roman creations clearly and utterly made by parents!

Who are we kidding?

What is your homework for the Christmas holidays? To create the polar ice cap to show global warming, to make a model of a Roman amphitheatre, or a Greek temple or paraphernalia from our own amazing prehistory?

There is just too much focus on not only academia but on showing off in our education system, and it is clearly at the expense of our kid’s welfare. Do we think our kids are brighter because we make them learn to read and write earlier than we should?

Much as when we dress up some of us tend to overdress, when we give our kids things to do we inculcate in them this sense of showing off, a need to produce something which is better than the others, a better project, a bigger one. Never mind that dad made it or mum

masterminded it. The kid can go to school feeling better than his peers for having created a Roman sword, a Viking shield or whatever was demanded of them, and the parents produced.

Yes, some parents are over-competitive. It is not always the fault of the schools. You hear these parents at Sports’ Day, terrifyingly screaming at their kids to run faster or whatever, and when you see their son is six years old you do wonder what it must be like in that home?

The problems though are far more severe than a few over-competitive parents at Parents’ Day. Many schools, or so this study showed, are just not doing any sports. The majority of kids in primary as well as in Form 4 and 5 only had one PE lesson per week! That is alarming in a kind-weather country like Malta, because even if the school can’t afford a gym, there are other things they could do outside.

We know our kids are fat and this cannot be helping. They study religion at school. They then have to troop off to duttrina classes (all a nightmare for working parents – I hope the new Archbishop will be a bit kinder towards us) and then sport is regarded as something our kids can do without. Primary school kids almost don’t have a break either. By the time they eat their lunch there is little time left to actually run round, play, make friends, or so the study implied.

And, of course, for working parents it is trying enough collecting your kids from school, but trying to ferry them to much needed extra fun classes in drama, football or whatever is very difficult. No mention was made of how every school in Malta seems to have different start and finishing times, making it impossible for parents who work.

Some have short days and a lot of homework. Some have longer days but include subjects like drama and music as mainstream in the curriculum (well done to Chiswick House School and St Martin’s, one of the few schools to do this).

Let me try ending on a positive note. First, well done to the Commissioner for Children. At least someone is trying to look at an issue which is effecting all our kids born in abortion-free Malta. Malta may be abortion-free but this does not mean we are doing enough to keep our kids happy and healthy. The result of this study is clear. It is a very important issue for the future health, wealth and happiness of this nation though it may not be vote specific.

Our Prime Minister always says that he will not just do things for votes and that is as it should be. The Opposition Leader also said recently that the problems in education are much deeper than re-organising structures or building new schools and I agree with that

wholeheartedly.

Can all the wonderful MPs who do not sign this silly pro-life petition (and by the way how can MPs petition themselves?) get to work on improving the living conditions of our living kids?

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