Are Your Kids Wimps?

Posted on 08 01, 2009 under Press by Noodad | Comments

wimpy"Maybe it's the cyclist in the park, trim under his
sleek metallic blue helmet, cruising along the dirt path… at three
miles an hour. On his tricycle.

Or perhaps
it's today's playground, all-rubber-cushioned surface where kids used
to skin their knees. And… wait a minute… those aren't little kids
playing. Their mommies—and especially their daddies—are in there with
them, coplaying or play-by-play coaching. Few take it half-easy on the
perimeter benches, as parents used to do, letting the kids figure
things out for themselves."

So begins an article by Hara Estroff Marano in
Psychology Today. So what do you think? Have we turned our kids into an
army of wimps who would get their asses kicked by any other past
generation's kids? And if so, is that a result of the ever-changing and
increasingly dangerous world, or just a case of too much information
brings more and more worry?

Read the article here

 

 

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    My brother-in-lawdoes a bit in his comedy routine about how he foesn\'t plan on having kids because of the world they would be subject to. \"When we were kids, if you rode a bike with a helmet you were \"special.\" And Tonka Trucks were made of metal and getting a tetanus shot was considering a weekend outing after playing with them.\"
    My wife and I were looking at things to childproof the house and when I picked up the safety gaurds for the corner of tables she told me to put it back, shje wasn\'t going to raise a wuss. \"he\'ll bump his head, cry, get back up and we\'ll wait for the next time he falls. That\'s what they do. They\'re kids, they learn. (I sure do love her).
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    It seems that there's much more "helicopter parenting" going on these days.

    And so many parents are scared senseless over the notion of their child getting hurt. I'm all for safety, but at the same time, bangs and bruises are natural byproducts of kids learning new skills and discovering limitations. (It's called the "school of hard knocks" for a reason.) There's an interesting theory called "risk homeostatis" that I blogged about that supports the idea that when a play area is made "safer," kids simply find new ways to use it, thereby negating much of the safety improvements.

    Also, I believe that cell phones steal children's ability to reason and solve problems. Kids no longer have to ration or reason their way out of sticky situations - they just dial up helicopter Mom who'll swoop down and rescue them at a moment's notice.
 

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