Modern parenting is causing stress, exhaustion and guilt:

The Upshot, an analysis and graphics company that produces state of the art papers on politics, policies and everyday life, has recently published an exhaustive article in the New York Times, December 25, 2018 issue. Drawing your attention to the conclusions, that stress, exhaustion and guilt have marked the modern day parenting, some of the startling key points are:

A. The article points out that the concept of intensive parenting originated probably during the 1980s when “helicopter parenting”, a movement to keep children safe from physical harm, spurred by high profile child-assaults and abductions, became poplular despite the fact that such incidences were exceedingly rare. During the 1990s and 2000s, intensive parenting took firm roots because of a major shift in how parents were led to see children. They were considered extremely vulnerable and moldable – shaped my their early childhood experiences – an idea bolstered by advances in child development research.

B. Mothers who work outside the home spend just as much time tending their children ans stay-home mothers did in the 1970s.

C. The amount of money parents spend on their children, which used to peak when they were in high school, is now highest when they are under 6.

D. Parenting is more hands-off in many other countries, for example, in Tokyo, children start riding the subway alone by first grade and in Paris they spend afternoons unaccompanied at playgrounds. On the contrary, American parents would rarely give that independence to their children.

E. Psychologists and allied professionals have raised alarms about childrens’ high level of stress and dependence upon their parents. Research has shown the children of hyper-involved parents have more anxiety related syndromes and are less satisfied with life and that when children play unsupervised, they build social skills, emotional maturity and executive function.