Wanted by Pope Francis, World Children's Day is celebrated around the world, which sees around 70,000 little protagonists from over 100 nations gathered in Rome . «We want to look at the world through the eyes of children, who are the hope of the people, their future. The simplicity of their hearts is a gift from God and, for those who know how to welcome it, the possibility of peace" the words of Father Enzo Fortunato, who coordinates the event.
But how have today's children changed compared to even those of just a few years ago? Pediatrician Anna Maria Bottelli talks about it.
«Undoubtedly technology, I think I can answer, was one of the causes of this revolution». «To keep an infant calm, a little one in the first year of life, now - the parents I meet every day during my visits often say - a mobile phone with a program he likes is enough , just as to make him complete his food, it is no longer used distraction mediated by cartoons, but the smartphone." And the consequences are not to be underestimated . «They are now multimedia children – explains Bottelli – very stimulated on an intellectual level , but not always contained and supported on an emotional level . It is the society of everything and immediately which, by conditioning the adult, cannot reflexively exclude the little ones." Families then changed , «with a clear multiplication of family models: from separated parents or extended families, to single-parent families or those made up of parents of different ethnic groups or more. They are subjected to strong pressure due to various inadequacies: from housing or work problems, to the stress of excessive consumption, with the early intrusion of technological tools".
What follows, explains the expert, is unfortunately very often "a 'difference' of roles within families with parents who are too close to their children, tyrant children, fragile parents . This highlights the difficulties encountered by parents in exercising role competence. And when the child gets sick – he must be healed by yesterday! – Doctor Google is within reach of a smartphone and at times very confusing: Google does not always contain parental anxieties which are then reflected on the children."
