Childhood under siege: Report unpacks the threats facing South Africa's kids
We cannot sit back and do nothing, says Professor Eric Atmore of the Centre for Early Childhood Development.
FILE: An apartment building is seen in the Cape Flats area of Cape Town, on March 30, 2020. Picture: AFP/Pieter Bauermeister
Lester Kiewit speaks to Professor Eric Atmore, Director at the Centre for Early Childhood Development.
They discuss the threat gangsters pose to impressionable kids, luring them into a life of crime, and what is required to break this cycle.
Listen below.
I want to become a gangster and smuggle guns.
That was the response of a grade three learner (as reported in Die Son on 11 November) to a question posed in an activity workbook asking learners what they would like to do one day.
It paints a bleak picture of what childhood - and the future - looks like for many South African youngsters raised in communities where poverty, drugs, gangsterism and violence are a way of life.
Atmore says children learn through imitation.
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"That child is the victim, as much as anything else, and all he's doing is expressing what he sees."
- Prof Eric Atmore, Centre for Early Childhood Development
Today (Wednesday), marks World Day of the Child. In commemoration, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has published a Situation Analysis report detailing the well-being of children and adolescents in South Africa.
The report paints a picture of the ongoing challenges impacting South Africa’s children and young people.
The aim is to raise awareness among policymakers and practitioners about the situation of children and adolescents in South Africa.
The report makes for scary reading, says Atmore.
"The world is a dangerous place for children... We need to take steps starting in the home... then through government intervention to protect children."
- Prof Eric Atmore, Centre for Early Childhood Development
Atmore says the government needs a coherent strategy for dealing with the ills many young South Africans are exposed to every day in their homes and communities.
We cannot sit back and do nothing, he says.
But also, he adds, change starts in the home.
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"Parents are the primary role models... We need to make every parent who is functioning well an influencer. We need to look out for our children in our communities."
- Prof Eric Atmore, Centre for Early Childhood Development
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Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the interview.