英国宝宝压力大 过早成为“小大人”

Babies are being turned into ‘mini adults’ with busy schedules of singing, yoga, gym, swimming and salsa classes, childcare experts claim.

They say children are forced to grow up too soon due to the commercialisation of childhood and targets set by the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) – or ‘nappy curriculum’ – in schools.

Their concerns are raised in a new book, Too Much, Too Soon?, due to be submitted to the Department for Education’s consultation on the EYFS, which ends on Friday.

One of the book’s authors, infant massage instructor Sylvie Hétu, says: ‘Babies now have “schedules” that are as important as those of adults. It is quite common that babies have a class every day.

‘Baby music, baby yoga, baby gym, baby singing, baby salsa, baby language, baby Einstein, and baby swim classes are all very common nowadays.’

Many baby classes – such as salsa and yoga – require mothers to perform the activity, but provide an opportunity for ‘bonding’.

However, Miss Hétu says infants should be protected from ‘over-stimulation’ and need the ‘calm presence of their parents’ and ‘day-to-day house sounds’.

She also calls for a revival in lullabies, saying a generation of parents do not ‘intuitively sing’ to their babies.

The book, edited by Dr Richard House of the Open EYE campaign group, concludes: ‘The evidence is overwhelming that “too much, too soon” is deeply damaging both to individual children and to our culture.

‘Educators, parents and policy-makers have a grave responsibility to arrest and reverse the “adultification” of children and childhood in whatever ways they can.’

英国育儿专家称，宝宝们由于日程安排太满，正被变成“小大人”。他们整日都要忙于学习唱歌、瑜伽、体操、游泳、和萨尔萨舞等技能。

专家表示，由于儿童经济的商业化，以及学校早期教育纲要（EYFS），或称为“早教课程”设定的目标，儿童正被揠苗助长。

新书《过多，过早？》提到了他们的忧虑，这本新书将被提交给英国教育部的早期教育纲要研讨会，会议将于周五结束。

该书作者之一、幼儿按摩师希尔维·海图说：“宝宝们的日程安排如今和大人们的一样重要。现在宝宝每天上一堂课都很正常。”

“幼儿音乐、幼儿瑜伽、幼儿体操、幼儿歌曲、幼儿萨尔萨舞、幼儿语言、幼儿智商、幼儿游泳等课程现在很常见。”

很多幼儿课程，比如萨尔萨舞和瑜伽，要求妈妈也参加，这也为“亲子”创造了机会。

但海图小姐表示，幼儿不该被“过分激励”，他们需要“家长安静的陪伴”，以及“日常家庭生活”。

她还呼吁父母给宝宝唱摇篮曲，并表示现在的父母不会“下意识地”唱给宝宝听。

该著作由“睁眼看世界”组织的理查德•豪斯博士编辑，结论称：“有充分的证据表明，‘过多、过早’的理念对幼儿和我们的文化都构成了严重影响。”

“不管采用什么手段，教育家、父母、和政策制定者都有责任制止并纠正幼儿和童年的‘成人化’。”