The environment of a typical Eastern European Gypsy child living in a shanty village is poor in positive influences. These children do not browse through their parents' books and parents do not read stories to them, they do not have a chance to colour pictures in children books, because all of these are missing, unimportant items in Gypsy households. There is virtually no regularity in eating and sleeping in the families. Children are allowed to watch videos of all sorts together with adults in rooms filled with cigarette smoke, they often witness arguments and fights of adults, their excessive consumption of alcohol, and often also sexual activities.
2. Twenty years ago, most children were endowed with at least two or more people who focused their main attention upon them. Today's child often does not have one full-time person concerned with his well-being. Not only is our society facing economic downward mobility, but also our children are presented with a caring downward mobility.
3. The negative impact of society in developed countries on its children is mainly because of two important changes which have occurred in the last twenty years, one being the spiralling divorce rate, and another the Women's Movement. Presently, in the USA for example, one out of two marriages ends in divorce. This fact places millions of children each year in the traumatic situation of family breakdown. The Women's Movement resulted in the introduction of millions of women into the workforce, including 60% of mothers, and 80% of stepmothers. Women now receive greater rewards for career than for effective parenting. This phenomenon results in the fact that children have fewer and fewer resource people available. This is further exacerbated by the exclusionary and often unstable dynamics of stepfamilies and remarriage. Loveless homes also constitute an endangering environment for children, a type of surroundings that breeds delinquency. In loveless homes, children are constantly exposed to traumatic experiences which have a definite influence in the development of their personalities. Furthermore, it is an established fact that such loveless homes have an even more deleterious effect upon the children's mental development than the so-called 'broken homes'.
4. Certain serious privations or imbalances between parents (for example, one or both parents' absence from family life, a lack of interest in the children's education or excessive severity) are factors that can cause emotional and affective disturbances in children. These factors can seriously upset their adolescence and sometimes mark them for life. Parents must find time to be with their children and take time to talk with them. As a gift and a commitment, children are their most important task, although seemingly not always a very profitable one. Children are more important than work, entertainment and social position.