In the past decade, we have lost our way in our concern for young people’s wellbeing
When throwing out a load of stuff a couple of years ago, I came across an old Biro adorned with the rainbow logo of the Department for Children, Schools and Families, disbanded by the Conservatives in 2010. It went in the bin with a pang of sadness, even as I thought how silly it was to feel an emotional connection to a decade-old, government-branded pen.
But after 10 years of policy that has lacked any notion of what constitutes a good childhood, maybe it’s not as ridiculous as it first sounds. My sorrowful nostalgia for a time when concern for child wellbeing drove the national agenda long predates Covid. It shouldn’t have taken a pandemic that has claimed the lives of thousands of parents and grandparents, and shut schools for the best part of a year, to shine a light on how our society has collectively lost its way on childhood.
