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Tomorrow's adults lacking a real childhood What are the differences in children's lives between today and 20 or 30 years ago? Are children happier today compared with their parents' childhood? Although the answers vary from country to country, there are a few things in common. Firstly, children's leisure style is quite similar across the globe because of the impact of modern communications and especially the internet. Teenagers have become the big consumers of new technology. Some children spend quite a long time every day on the computer playing video games, surfing the internet or chatting online. Some indulge in watching DVDs and television. Personal contact after school has become tenuous while virtual friendships are becoming more and more popular. The time spent on basic physical activities per day has been cut to nearly zero. In addition, parents' anxieties about their children's safety with regards to traffic and strangers have finally finished off outdoor enjoyment. Obviously, insufficient exercise directly affects growth in terms of health and stamina. A lack of human contact leads to weak inter-personal skills and thus social immaturity. Plus, so much entertainment leaves them little time for reading, creativity and imagination. Secondly, children are more parent-orientated these days, especially in Hong Kong, the mainland and other Asian countries. Living in a middle-class family, a young person's daily activities and leisure are almost entirely under their parents' control until they are about to go to secondary school or even university. Once children start kindergarten, childhood ends. Mothers tend to fill their children's' free time with an appallingly hectic schedule from learning the piano and drawing to adding more hours for extra study and attending private tutorial classes in the hope of accelerating their development to be more competitive with all-round abilities. When they return home, physically worn out, they still have to struggle with homework, prepare for tests or complete projects to a deadline. Clearly, children are lost in a sea of new responsibilities. They simply don't know what a carefree childhood is like when it has already come to the end. Young mothers today spend so much energy taking their children here and there every day and they accept it as a fact of life because all the other children at the school take part in numerous other extra curricular activities. I wonder if these modern parents really understand their children - whether they spend time listening to them to find out their real interests. They seem to be just following the trend, pushed by this competitive society. Are they projecting their personal dreams on to their children rather than letting them live their own dreams? If that's the case, then it will eventually bury their kids' curiosity, creativity and talent. Moreover, as family size decreases, with one or two children per household being the norm in developed countries, children have become the focus of family life. Children are indulged and pampered at home and are turned into little kings and queens. In Hong Kong, children's school bags are often carried by their domestic helpers. Children are over-protected in the most minute aspects of their daily lives, leading to lower self-management capabilities, let alone being able to care for others. Worse still, because of parents' overprotection, children become less adventurous and less willing to take risks. Instead, children are too willing to accept parents' instructions unquestioningly, thus losing the opportunity to do things on their own and learn by trial and error. Once they approach adulthood, they may be less inclined to take on responsibilities and lack the initiative to seize opportunities; they may not be able to cope with failure and are likely to be more vulnerable to adversity. This has been evidenced by the increasing rates of mental illness and suicide among Asian teenagers. Social pressure and a culture of conformity simply do not let children be children for long enough - they are continually under pressure to achieve and to be perfect. Can we expect our children to grow up healthy with too little physical exercise? Can't we allow children their childhood so that they can have time to explore and discover? Can we provide them with their own space in which they can develop their imagination and creativity? Can we give them the freedom they need to learn from their own mistakes and let them solve their own problems? If so, children will be able to develop critical thinking and become healthy, creative and responsible adults. I believe this should be the philosophy of our modern education. NAME AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED School toilets still need to clean up their act As much as I support Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun's appointment as director-general of the World Health Organisation, I have to say I would have more confidence in her had she been able to sort out the shocking state of the toilets in Hong Kong schools. As an educator and examiner here of some years standing, I have been in many schools and after a brief flurry of enthusiasm after Sars in many if not most schools (my own included), toilet paper, hand towels and most importantly, soap, are still missing. The thought of thousands of children with unwashed hands makes me cringe. I have reported this frequently to schools and government departments but no one seems to take responsibility. The response from schools is frequently that there is no budget for these items. More worrying still is that most local people seem to accept this as a normal situation, not as something outrageous for a developed country. One would have thought that having put the public toilets in order that Dr Chan could have used her powers to do likewise for Hong Kong students. NAME AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED