The following letter, addressed personally, was delivered to every member of Congress.

September 29, 1999

Dear Senator or Representative ___________,

The toxic cultural environment that confronts our children and youth was evident long before the tragedy in Littleton, Colorado. In our fast-paced society, the very idea of childhood seems endangered. The enclosed article about our broad new coalition -- the Alliance for Childhood -- makes this clear.

In fact, there is accumulating evidence of a disturbing decline in children's health and well-being. An epidemic of stress is striking children, from the most affluent families to the poorest. Researchers note significant increases in the diagnosis of a wide range of health problems -- including hyperactive disorders, childhood depression, autism, allergies, asthma, obesity, and sleep disorders. Our schools are struggling with dramatic incidents of violence. And millions of children are being placed on questionable regimens of powerful psychoactive medications. Yet we do little to reduce the unhealthy stresses that contribute to the need for such an unprecedented medicating of our young.

Many children, for example, receive far too little consistent, personal attention from responsible adults. On the other hand, they are exposed to too much television, video games, computers, and other electronic media. These tend to overwhelm their developing senses and force them to deal with adult themes of violence, sex, and commercial consumption. Young children are also being pushed into intense academics and abstract thinking too early. Meanwhile, their needs for creative, physical play and for a direct personal connection to the world of nature have been seriously neglected. In short, our culture seems increasingly reluctant to let children be children.

What can be done? The Alliance for Childhood is a new international partnership of parents, teachers, health-care professionals, researchers, and child advocates who are committed to working for social and cultural change to counter these stresses. Our goal is to preserve the very idea of childhood as a time of special vulnerability, deserving of protection by caring, responsible adults. We plan a series of projects to publicize the conditions that are harming children, and to promote positive change during a decade for the the child, with the new millennium.

We appreciate the concern for children that you have shown over the years. Parents, teachers, and local communities working together can do much to respond, at home and at school, to the current challenges to childhood. But Congress also has a critical role to play in helping to shape a new, more nurturing public agenda for children. In particular, we ask for your support as we seek Congressional hearings to investigate the causes of the disturbing decline in children's health. Hearings would focus national attention on these underlying causes. One example, well-researched, is the wide range of negative health effects from spending too much time using electronic media of all kinds in childhood. this is time taken from creative play, socializing, and learning from real people about the real world. Experts consider the latter activities to be crucial for healthy child development.

We believe that such hearings will indicate the need for further Congressional actions, including, for example, the following, which we ask you to consider supporting:

• Commissioning a comprehensive federal report to summarize the evidence of poor health outcomes related to excessive television viewing, which affects physical, emotional, social, and intellectual development. The report should also recommend specific federal actions designed to educate citizens about these threats.
  
  
• Commissioning a comprehensive federal report to summarize the evidence of the health repercussions of using computers intensively in childhood. An urgent example is repetitive stress injuries for children who use computers many hours a week, with no attention to proper ergonomic design.

Thank you for your kind attention. We invite you and your staff to consider the Alliance for Childhood a resource to turn to in your future deliberations about children's issues. And we look forward to discussing policy issues with you and your staff in the future, as we seek your support on specific initiatives to serve all of our children.

With warm greetings,

Joan Almon
Coordinator, Alliance for Childhood

Marilyn Benoit, M.D.
Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry
Howard and Georgetown Universities

Frank Vespe
Executive Director, TV-Free America