Tuesday, March 16, 2021

Beyond Spoiled

 From Return to Order:

Hyper-pampered children do not appear out of anywhere. They are a product of clueless, hyper-pampering parents, who confuse affection with preventing all suffering. Many parents were products of broken homes and pamper their children so that they will not suffer as they did.

Teachers are shocked when they see parents carrying their children’s backpacks to the school door. Other parents will do their children’s homework to save them from the effort and the possibility of failure. This upbringing results from a pedagogy that favors fantasy and emotion over the role of logic and the formation of the will. These mistaken ideas have become embedded in education and culture.

The book, The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure, explains Generation Z and how its children are on the road to disaster. Authors Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff claim that present generations have learned three “Great Untruths” from parents, teachers and society. These untruths are “you are fragile,” “trust your feelings,” and “life is a battle between good and bad people.” To summarize the three, bad people make others feel unsafe and fragile. The result is what Haidt and Lukianoff denounce as the “fetishization of safety” and the suppression of all suffering, even discomfort. (Read more.)

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1 comment:

julygirl said...

Thanks for this article. This is a problem that really needs to be addressed. My generation was reared by 'The Greatest Generation' who in the 20th Century experienced and survived health issues that had no medical remedy, The Dust Bowl, WWI, The Great Depression, WWII, other devastating military engagements, adapting to new age technology, and a series of bad Presidents. They taught and trained us to be strong and effective when problems arose in our lives. My generation however did not want our children to suffer in any way and they are now the generation who are raising the current crop of pampered, self centered, entitled, narcissists.