BCIFV home > Media Releases > March 6, 2001

For Immediate Release: March 6, 2001
Contact: Penny Bain
phone: (604) 669-7055 or 1-877-755-7055 or
pbain@bcifv.org
www.bcifv.org

Opinion:

Investing in early childhood is wise:
but eliminating programs for older kids and parents
is just throwing out the baby with the bathwater

by
Penny Bain
Executive Director
BC Institute Against Family Violence

The government of BC recently appointed Dr. Fraser Mustard as an advisor. Founder of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, recipient of 16 honorary degrees and a companion of the Order of Canada, Mustard is one of the country's best-known child advocates. His area of expertise: early brain development and the need to invest massive resources in early childhood.

The BCIFV is delighted with his appointment, yet concerned about how the information he offers will be received. When a Vancouver Sun columnist wrote of his appointment, she made a mistake that we fear will be made by others: that of thinking that this approach obviates others, and that money invested in "delinquent teens" is "wasted."

Yet there are there are pitfalls in focusing too heavily on any one approach to child welfare, including this one. The first is the assumption that "new investments" must be synonymous with "new programs." A more effective approach is to broaden the mandate of and deepen investments in existing preschools and day cares. They can alleviate the stress that usually precipitates child abuse; offer instruction in parenting skills; and be a first-line resource for identifying at-risk families.

But an irony of our education system is that university professors, who fine-tune the brains of a precious few, are required to have more education, receive better pay and benefits, and are accorded more respect than anyone who teaches young children - whether other people's or their own, whether in day cares or at home.

The second pitfall is the assumption that, because money is best invested in young children, investing in older, already troubled kids is pointless. That's inaccurate because:

• Although the brain is "hard-wired" by a certain age, anyone with a computer knows that hardware is useless without software. If human "soft-wiring" couldn't be improved throughout life, there would be no point in education or nurturing past the age of six - and the concept of lifelong learning would be preposterous.
• Psychologists speak of a quality called "resilience" that helps some kids survive abuse and become productive adults - often after weathering a stormy adolescence. Yet we can't know which acting-out teens will be fine in adulthood until they get there - we can only improve their odds by letting them know we haven't given up on them
• Brain research has shown that children and adolescents respond to stimuli primarily from the amygdala - the part of the brain that generates emotions. As they mature, activity gradually shifts to the frontal lobe - the part that governs reasoning. Hence, a teenager from a good home can make a series of impulsive choices until he or she is too mired in street life to get out without adult help. But as teens mature, they become capable of making better decisions. If we stick with them, we improve their chances. If we abandon them, we improve our own odds of paying the price later in social services, law enforcement, judicial and penal system costs.
• Last but not least, eventually most kids have kids of their own. If we write off this generation of "delinquent" teens, failing to help them learn the importance of and skills of good parenting, we automatically write off the next, as well. That would be a waste.

There is really only one way to improve the chances of the next generation of children, and every generation after that, and that is to take a multi-faceted approach.

That approach must include funding high-quality, affordable preschools, day cares and other programs for today's young children and their parents. It must continue with interventions designed to help older children and teens reach their full potential, whether or not that potential has been compromised by damage done to them in their early years. It must encourage teens to postpone child-bearing, provide them with the means to do so and teach them parenting skills so that they'll know what to do when they get there.

And, when they do become parents, it must continue offering them access to good community programs, day cares and preschools so that, no matter what background they came from, they will be able to help their children achieve their full potential by making the most out of their developing years.