Transcripts

Carl Honore:
And you're starting to see now also that kids coming out of this assembly line that we call modern childhood are struggling to stand on their own two feet. Because they've been so supervised, structured, monitored and guided all the way through, that when they're cut loose they don't know where to turn.

Carl Honore, author of the book, Under Pressure Rescuing our Children from the Culture of Hyper-Parenting, says now that some of these kids have gotten older and have begun entering the workplace…

There are kids turning up at job interviews with their parents who then go on to negotiate salary and vacation packages. So I think what happens is that children never really learn to stand on their own two feet. Hence they don't learn who they are because they're so pushed towards being what we want them to be.

There is no simple solution says Carl, especially because parents don't necessarily see this as a problem - they are doing what they think is best.

Somebody said to me just the other day that when you think about parenting you should be more like a butler. You're kind of hovering there on the sides - you're there when needed but you're not taking things by the reins and ramming children through. I think a lot of us get so caught up in the craziness of daily life, we don't even see the signals; for example when our child is falling asleep in the backseat of the car en route to an extra-curricular activity. Once parents take a deep breath and look hard, we can see these things because we do know our children really well and we do have their best interest at heart.

At somethingyoushouldknow.net I'm Mike Carruthers and that's Something You Should Know.