cool yet disturbing article

[permetaform]

via tochira

A Nation of Wimps

By: Hara Estroff Marano
Summary: Parents are going to ludicrous lengths to take the bumps out of life for their children. However, parental hyperconcern has the net effect of making kids more fragile; that may be why they're breaking down in record numbers.


...Causes me to both bless and curse my parents on the same breath. They're not as bad as some of those mentioned, but, god. (ask lierdumoa sometime for the story sometime when my mother called her to hunt me down. she found her number via my phone bill. ::headdesk::)

On the one hand, I wonder how I survived. On the other, I take an honest look at myself, and wonder if I truly did.

Also:
"In an era of rampant grade inflation, some college students find it shocking to discover there are 26 letters in the alphabet"

le sigh.

Comments

[lurkerlynne.livejournal.com]

::blinks:: Wow. Damn, I've been lucky; my parents were cool parents. I had chores (much to the complete suprise of college classmates), a cerfew (which said classmates said was bogus) and had to either be home or call beforehand saying I was late. I had to get good grades *and* I had to do most of the work myself, tho' they'd help if needed. They wanted to know my general whereabouts when I went out and who I was gonna be with- not everybody but at least one person. When I started a job they charged me rent- $75/mo, $150/mo after I dropped outa college. Which I thought was reasonable, as it payed for dinner and munchies. Cerfew got later as I got older and they backed off after I moved out. Nowadays, I consider them friends- they get cooler every year.

And after my sister had her psychotic break and the rest of the family went to counseling (not me, I prefer to bottle things up in a completely unhealthy manner), my parents were told they were too hard on us kids. Go figure. And yet we all get along so well despite it.

To add to my family's crimes against children, we made my niece eat healthy (snacks were granola and yogurt related, toys and trinkets were traded for trick-or-treat candy) until she was ten or so, put her to bed at a decent time (she didn't have to go to sleep right away, but could play quietly), were (and are still) quite rigid about her tv viewing and made her play instead whenever possible and made her accountable for her behavior- within reason, kids will be kids after all. My niece could have been easily diagnosed ADD and drugged for it if my parents had stepped in to help. Good lord, we made her behave! ::goggle:: Ya think that's why my sister gets compliments on how well-mannered her kid is?

Damn glad I'm not a kid these days and I feel sorry for the ones that are. Back the *#$)! off and pick 'em up when they fall down, okay?