YOU will be aware of the public debate on childhood and 'junk culture' that has been dominating the media and which, as I write, is still reverberating around the world's media.

Author of Toxic Childhood Sue Palmer and I together conceived and initiated this extraordinary media event; and in our open letter signed by more than 100 prominent public figures, we argued that in a fast-moving hyper-competitive culture, today's children are expected to cope with an ever-earlier start to formal schoolwork and an overly academic test-driven primary curriculum; and they are pushed by market forces to act and dress like mini-adults.

These are clearly issues that have caught the national mood - with radio and TV stations being swamped with e-mails and phone-calls from the day the story broke.

We could be experiencing a defining cultural sea-change in societal and political attitudes to children and childhood.

With a concerted effort by all those who agree with our concerns, we can make a decisive impact, in both influencing modern lifestyle norms for the better, and in urging policy-makers to re-think their assumptions about what is best for our children, educationally and developmentally.

Anyone who wishes to keep abreast of developments, with updates and news on the debate as it unfolds, please see the news item Toxic Childhood - Junk Culture by Richard House on www.letsengage.co.uk (a University of Roehampton web site).

DR RICHARD HOUSE, Research Centre for Therapeutic Education, Roehampton University.