Lost Childhoods
It has been interesting to read the figures on teenage pregnancies in the light of the recent report commissioned by the Children’s Society. In discussing childhood struggles today, A Good Childhood, Searching for Values in a Competitive Age had looked at aggressive consumerism, poverty and inequality and pinpointed the ‘excessive individualism’ of our culture. Its conclusions that ‘more young people are anxious and troubled’ and that children’s lives are ‘more difficult than in the past’ have been well reported.
Now, almost on cue, preliminary statistics released from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) give a graphic illustration of one aspect of these problems, teenage pregnancy. Figures for the first half of 2007 show conception rates for girls under 18 at 42 out of every 1000 girls. It is by far the highest rate in Western Europe- six or seven times higher than that of The Netherlands. In girls between 13 and 15 years, the conception rate is an alarming 8 out of every 1000.
The responses to these figures have been mixed. Some have insisted that they are a blip on an otherwise downward trend. But even if this is true, there is little in them to celebrate. One advisory agent commented with some satisfaction that, although the pregnancy rate was high, more than half of them did not result in motherhood. But since that means that large numbers of young girls are undergoing abortions it is barely a cause for congratulation.
We understand those who see the problem as one of morality, the rejection of the consequences of sexual behaviour by a ‘me’ generation. We hear the call for re-education in sexual attitudes and values. We also understand those who link the problem to poverty, for poverty in childhood is one of the most consistent predictors of disadvantage and social problems. Britain is the most unequal of rich countries in Europe, with 22% of our children categorised as poor. (In Sweden it is 8%.) Sexual experience often accompanies deprivation, for sex can provide a cheap and temporary distraction. As the Children’s Society report acknowledged, reducing child poverty itself could change lifestyles and empower more youngsters.
Yet if the research is right, we may need to go beyond both moral judgements and material solutions. We may need to address deep problems of disillusion and distrust, identity and emotional struggle in some teenage lives. We may need to ask why so many youngsters have little real sense of self-worth; why there is a deep unmet need for affection, why many experience ‘skin hunger’ and sadness. Henri Nouwen once wondered what it must feel like to fear that no-one loves you without conditions and you can’t be vulnerable without being used. Without some experience of the love that God gives, it is no surprise that youngsters seek substitutes.
Perhaps, more than the rest of Europe, our particular form of spiritual malaise is tied up with material burnout. The Netherlands might not be any more Christian than the UK in its churchgoing, but the legacy of the faith remains in the way its children are nurtured and valued. Adult patterns identified by the Children’s Society of aggressive pursuit of personal success give us less energy to spend with young people, and less time to understand their world. It was St Paul who told us that when he was a child he spoke, understood and thought as a child, and not until he was an adult did he put away childish things. We may need to learn how to re-evaluate our time and give our young the space to be children.
March 2009
