Spoiled Rotten
This morning over breakfast I saw another post on Ravelry from a parent asking for paper topic ideas for their (high school aged) child. Seriously? It’s great that she’s involved in her kid’s schoolwork, but I just find it mind-boggling that these people (and there have been a few) post on Internet forums asking for this stuff. I couldn’t decide if I should be proud or indignant that my parents never went to such lengths to help me out with my homework. And then I read this article at lunch about how American kids are spoiled rotten and grow into “adultescents” who are incapable of taking care of themselves. Really? This actually happens? I think it’s probably unfair to label it as an American issue; there are no doubt parents in Australia and other places who behave similarly. Nor do I think all US parents are like that; I know that Staci and Nat aren’t raising their kids that way. Even with those caveats, the article rankles. WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE!? I was getting dressed and doing my own homework and, hell, washing the dishes when I was in grade school. If I’d demanded my parents to untie my shoes for me, they probably would’ve laughed in my face. I guess the old “It builds character” excuse for doing chores really is accurate. So thanks, Mom and Dad, for making me do the dishes and start the washing machine and rake the leaves in the yard and decide my own essay topics. I’ve grown into a more capable adult that most of the kids in the article will.
Spoiled Rotton
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3 responses
If you worked at a Uni you wouldn’t need to ask… Many kids can’t cope at Uni. They can’t read a map or follow directions like ‘last room on the left’. They don’t ‘get’ that a room number that starts 2… is on the second floor. They can’t organise their own workflow, and have trouble understanding how to fit all the work they have to do into a week. It seems that many parents really do too much for their kids and don’t let them try things out for themselves or make mistakes to learn from. Or maybe I should say that more do this than they used to; I guess some people have always over-sheltered their kids but it seems to be much more obvious now.
Even before I saw the shout out (thanks!) I was getting rankled about the topic. This sort of thing drives me nuts. And with Nathaniel teaching at a University now, I second M-H’s comment. It’s incredible how coddled some kids are as they grow and how unprepared that leaves them for life. I know some days my kids think I’m a mean mom (I’ve been told so by my 8 year old already) but WAY later in life, I hope they’ll get it.
I found you a little bit hard about people starting university. I was not an overprotected child, far of that to be truth, my parents was sometime called negligent because other parent find unconceivable I took the bus to go to sport or other activities. But when I started University, it was hard to cope with the workflow, just because until that the school was really easy and University is another level, that more the fault of the teacher before, do not put it on the parents…
But if you want to laugh about the adulescent phenomena, you have a french movie hilarious about that: Tanguy… best example and yes it worldwide in rich country…