The Relentlessness of Modern Parenting
nytimes.com
The Relentlessness of Modern Parenting
1–10 of 167 posts
Re: The Relentlessness of Modern Parenting
#2That graph with quintiles is a nice illustration of the 80-20 rule.
Re: The Relentlessness of Modern Parenting
#3It seems the pendulum is starting to swing back as we see the unintended consequences of over parenting. Especially bulldozer parenting. Check out the book, "The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure" for a deep dive into this.
I think it's helpful to look at it this way: The job of a parent is to put themselves out of a job.
Re: The Relentlessness of Modern Parenting
#4If only we’d fix structural and societal problems so that parents don’t feel as though they need to undertake a Herculean task to help their child navigate a world with few opportunities and many roadblocks.
Re: The Relentlessness of Modern Parenting
#5I didn't realize it until I read this article, but this is what keeps me up at night and motivates me to spend so much time and effort on my children. Making sure my kids are successful adults and maintain the economic lifestyle my programming career currently affords them is why I send them to camps all summer long and martial arts classes in the afternoons to improve their focus. It's why my wife and I spent hours working on our son's application to the gifted program recently and stress them out over getting their homework done each night. The future feels uncertain and unstable. My kids need to be prepared for anything.
Are we over-parenting? Absolutely. But if I let my kids go free-range and they have a hard time as adults, the same exact people who accuse us of over-parenting will be right there accusing us of under-parenting. The same childless people who sneer at us for keeping our kids challenged and engaged are the ones who sneer at us when we give the kids an hour of screen time at the end of the day or when one of our children has an age-appropriate temper-tantrum. We parents are damned if we do and damned if we don't.
Re: The Relentlessness of Modern Parenting
#6It seems the pendulum is starting to swing back as we see the unintended consequences of over parenting. Especially bulldozer parenting. Check out the book, "The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure" for a deep dive into this. I think it's helpful to look at it this way: The job of a parent is to put themselves out of a job.
Are you a parent? You're never out of a job :). I'm 58, my parents are in their 80's, and my daughters are in their 20's, so my opinion in this matter is somewhat informed.
Re: The Relentlessness of Modern Parenting
#7The book "Selfish reasons to have more kids" by Bryan Caplan is a good antidote to this attitude
Re: The Relentlessness of Modern Parenting
#8I didn't realize it until I read this article, but this is what keeps me up at night and motivates me to spend so much time and effort on my children. Making sure my kids are successful adults and maintain the economic lifestyle my programming career currently affords them is why I send them to camps all summer long and martial arts classes in the afternoons to improve their focus. It's why my wife and I spent hours…
I am not convinced that with this attitude your kids won’t have a harder time as adults.
Re: The Relentlessness of Modern Parenting
#9I believe it is no business of the Government to dictate how we bring up children. Period.
Re: The Relentlessness of Modern Parenting
#10It seems more and more that having kids perpetuates the original Ponzi scheme of life between the young and the old. One that exists via billions of years of evolution producing powerful psychological selective pressures to reproduce.