London - Babies are being turned into “mini adults” with busy schedules of singing, yoga, gym, swimming and salsa classes, childcare experts claim.
They say children are forced to grow up too soon due to the commercialisation of childhood and targets set by the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) - or “nappy curriculum” - in schools.
Their concerns are raised in a new book, Too Much, Too Soon?, submitted to the Department for Education’s consultation on the EYFS.
The consultation follows a pledge by the Coalition to scale back the compulsory EYFS, which requires youngsters to hit 117 targets.
One of the book’s authors, infant massage instructor Sylvie Hetu, says: “Babies now have ‘schedules’ that are as important as those of adults. It is quite common that babies have a class every day.
“Baby music, baby yoga, baby gym, baby singing, baby salsa, baby language, baby Einstein, baby sings and baby swim classes are all very common nowadays.”
Many baby classes - such as salsa and yoga - require mothers to perform the activity, but provide an opportunity for “bonding”. However,Hetu says infants should be protected from “over-stimulation” and need the “calm presence of their parents” and “day-to-day house sounds”.
She also calls for a revival in lullabies, saying a generation of parents do not “intuitively sing” to their babies.
The book, edited by Dr Richard House of the Open EYE campaign group, concludes: “The evidence is overwhelming that ‘too much, too soon’ is deeply damaging both to individual children and to our culture.
“Educators, parents and policy-makers have a grave responsibility to arrest and reverse the ‘adultification’ of children and childhood in whatever ways they can.” - Daily Mail