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Decline in independent activity as a cause of decline in child mental health

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Re: Decline in independent activity as a cause of decline in child mental health

#81

Post by theGnuMe »

mikewarot wrote: post #58

I blame Otis Toole[1], who confessed (and later recanted) to the kidnapping and murder of Adam Walsh. The hysteria Adam's father was able to create in the United States is astounding. I grew up before that happened, and yet, when it was my turn as a parent, I was still freaked out the first time my child wanted to walk home from a friends house, 2 blocks away about 10 years ago. When I was a kid, we were told to go o…

Also the rise of Cable news. I think we are close to peak information saturation and it basically overloads our nervous systems.

Re: Decline in independent activity as a cause of decline in child mental health

#82

Post by theGnuMe »

Apocryphon wrote: post #59
mikewarot wrote: post #58

I blame Otis Toole[1], who confessed (and later recanted) to the kidnapping and murder of Adam Walsh. The hysteria Adam's father was able to create in the United States is astounding. I grew up before that happened, and yet, when it was my turn as a parent, I was still freaked out the first time my child wanted to walk home from a friends house, 2 blocks away about 10 years ago. When I was a kid, we were told to go o…

Yeah, this discussion thread so far accounts how sensationalist media covered true crime cases. Child abductions, serial killers, Satanic panic led to cultural shifts where suddenly the 'burbs aren't safe anymore and stranger danger was amplified and everywhere.

We can't intrinsically estimate probabilities well. We are more worried about child abduction than a kid getting killed by a car.

Re: Decline in independent activity as a cause of decline in child mental health

#83

Post by GeoAtreides »

b800h wrote: post #35
caconym_ wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Despite Asimov's opinion on the matter, it seems that in reality the meta-analysis is a useful tool for understanding the de facto scientific consensus on some topic beyond the scope of a single paper/study.

I think the original naive critique is valid though. What if the consensus is wrong? But of course, it's better than one random study, unless you particularly trust that researcher and none of the others.

Someone still needs to know what the consensus is before they challenge it.

Re: Decline in independent activity as a cause of decline in child mental health

#84

Post by tasuki »

davidkuennen wrote: post #67

When I was little (20 years ago), I left the house in the morning and came back in the evening. My parents didn't really care what I did. It was the same for all the children in our small village. We played in the forest, created tree homes, tunnels and much more. It was an incredible time which I'm certain helped me a lot in my development. Granted, I was growing up on a farm in Germany. There wasn't much traffic or…

How old were you?

Re: Decline in independent activity as a cause of decline in child mental health

#85

Post by trealira »

barrysteve wrote: post #55

I don't understand this. We were free-to-play, but it was not unstructured. Quite the opposite, you had to be somewhere on time, in a heirarchy or school structure and there were teacher imposed rules. I miss that heirarchy more than I'd care to admit. The endless cycles of milking the good while it's good, is an offensive and time wasting replacement for what used to be a well-timed culture. It is deeply humorous to…

Typically, unstructured play is defined as playing without predefined rules or adult guidance, like playing on a playground or drawing pictures. The child is left to their own devices.

Structured play has predefined rules; for example, playing Monopoly, role-playing, or cooking with an adult's help.

Although you had to follow rules in a school setting, it wouldn't necessarily make your play structured, since you always have to follow those rules anyway; it's not like playing Monopoly, where the playing itself is governed by additional rules, and everyone takes turns, and follows a set structure.

Re: Decline in independent activity as a cause of decline in child mental health

#86

Post by pfannkuchen »

blitzar wrote: post #68
btilly wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The book wasn't a compilation of independent research papers. It was produced out of a compilation of interviews done to better understand millionaires. Support was defined by the wealthy parent providing financial support, whether through a stipend, gifts, or whatever. It turned out that, despite the best of intentions, such support almost inevitably wound up with destructive emotional dynamics.

> It turned out that, despite the best of intentions, such support almost inevitably wound up with destructive emotional dynamics See the list of "self made" billionaires who started with a small loan of a couple 100 mil from their parents for examples.

What’s an example? I thought the family safety net was a bigger factor in children from wealthy families starting riskier ventures earlier in life and perhaps serially. I’ve never heard of a company starting like you describe so I assume it isn’t that common, but maybe people just don’t talk about it much? Or maybe you are just exaggerating the loan magnitude by quite a lot?

Re: Decline in independent activity as a cause of decline in child mental health

#87

Post by klyrs »

btilly wrote: post #5

This is something that free range parenting advocates have been talking about for a long time. See https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/09/03/6412565... . For me one of the most compelling data points wasn't even a parenting reference. It was https://www.amazon.com/Millionaire-Next-Door-Surprising-Amer... . First published in the mid-1990s, the chapters on the children of millionaires found that the more su…

Helicopter parenting was never born of wisdom. It's driven by anxiety.

Re: Decline in independent activity as a cause of decline in child mental health

#88

Post by pfannkuchen »

RandomLensman wrote: post #70
yieldcrv wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Epigenetics suggests that unnecessary stressors in the current generation reduce biological fitness, which competes with struggle for the sake of struggle when its not necessary hope someone finds the happy medium of allowing growth without unnecessary stress

As opposed to necessary stressors in previous generations (hot and cold wars)? If not all stressors are bad, which ones are good?

The wars of the 20th century were pretty extreme outliers in terms of how many people in the societies were significantly affected by the wars. I believe that for most of human history post tribal era, most of the population wouldn’t have been nearly as affected by wars. You might have to pay taxes to someone else after it’s over.

Re: Decline in independent activity as a cause of decline in child mental health

#89

Post by baron816 »

scaramanga wrote: post #19
baron816 wrote: post #2

The Coddling of the American Mind is a good book on this topic https://www.thecoddling.com/ .

It's on a different topic. ie. That if people speak up for themselves, or they want to address unfairness or inequality in their society, it's because their parents hugged them when they cried as babies, instead of ignoring them, or whatever you're supposed to do to "toughen them up" (ie. turn them into terrified adults, washed up in middle age, who see any new youth movement as a life-threatening trend that must be…

What? I don’t think you read the book.

Re: Decline in independent activity as a cause of decline in child mental health

#90

Post by RandomLensman »

pfannkuchen wrote: post #88
RandomLensman wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As opposed to necessary stressors in previous generations (hot and cold wars)? If not all stressors are bad, which ones are good?

The wars of the 20th century were pretty extreme outliers in terms of how many people in the societies were significantly affected by the wars. I believe that for most of human history post tribal era, most of the population wouldn’t have been nearly as affected by wars. You might have to pay taxes to someone else after it’s over.

Some centuries in Central Europe were full of war, wiping out 30% of the population in some countries (30yr war, for example). So there were definitely large populations affected by war previously.
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