There aren't many answers, simply competing theories. Nice and pretty children are treated nicely and prettily - but this doesn't mean that they will turn out either nice or pretty. The one thing we can be sure of is that it is a complicated business, and this is why the Fox initiative is so dismaying. It is too simple an answer to the vexed and urgent question of what children want or need. All of us want things that are bad for us, whether it be drugs, cigarettes, or watching too much television.
Children are no different.
Whether we should encourage or even tolerate moves to indulge their lazier tastes is another matter. Yet while politics fiddles and to a large extent prattles, the really influential initiatives are being taken in the private sector, and in popular culture. The creation of market niches encourages the creation of groups, and the creation of groups encourages animosity between those groups. The flipside of the sense of belonging is an acute disdain for those who do not belong.