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Friday, August 24, 2007

Superbad Parenting, I'm Not the Only One

Tom McGrath has an interesting piece in Philly Mag -- "The Worst Parents Ever." It contains this nugget:

"A study released earlier this year found that the current generation of college students is the most narcissistic ever. In the study, psychologists asked students to respond to statements like, “If I ruled the world, it would be a better place,” “I think I am a special person” and “I can live my life any way I want to.” Two-thirds of the kids showed elevated levels of narcissism — 30 percent more than when the study was first done in 1982.
How did this happen?"

I say it might have something to do with the well-meaning, but idiotic, Self-Esteem movement that took off in public schools around then. And I've been saying it for years.
You can find McGrath's more complicated answer here. You decide.

Based on what I read they should have called it "The Worst, Most Screwed Up Kids Ever." I'm not buying it.

4 comments:

  1. I disagree with you. Rather than the self-esteem movement, I believe the biggest factor is the impact of most children having two working parents versus one.

    Most working parents are unable to spend as much time as they would like with their children. Thus, they are always feeling guilty and compensating accordingly (gifts, extra praise, etc.).

    Also, technology (video games, cell phone, the Internet) is now a babysitter. Innapropriate and/or ego-driven "reality" TV shows and movies make it so that kids cannot be bored anymore.

    Parents need to set limits. At an early age.

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  2. Lately I have found that my children are setting limits on me. They don't want me watching things like "Borat" and "Reno 911," let alone enjoying them.

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