No kidding…? Scientists find modern teenagers work less and are more pleased with themselves
Now, this made me laugh out loud:
“The researchers concluded that modern teenagers work less hard and are generally less competent than their parents at the same age. They are just a great deal more pleased with themselves.”
No real surprises there, of course. So, negative parenting has (in the case of baby-boom parents in the US) turned into all-out positive reinforcement parenting. Which comes with the dubious side-effect that now a whole generation thinks they are little Einsteins, Picassos, Jimi Hendrixes etcetera – without doing any of the work that’s necessary to achieve excellence in anything.
Well, apart from the harmful side-effects of lying to your children about both their talents and their achievements, it is also total bullshit to tell each child, continuously, that each thing he or she does is a work of brilliance and proof of genius.
You don’t do your child, who is, let’s say, into sports, any long time favours by constantly suggesting that he or she will be an Olympic champion. There are millions and millions of other kids who play sports. Guess how many of them won’t win any gold medals?
It is, of course, good to stimulate and encourage children but true excellence has always been and will always be the exception. To suggest otherwise is misleading and ultimately cruel and even harmful to the child.
So, as always, this research proves that humans have a hard time finding any kind of sane balance in things. Obviously, it is bad for a child to be told constantly that it is a no good loser that will never be successful at anything it will ever attempt to do. Some children might be stubborn and talented enough to overcome (and actually benefit from) such constant negativity but most will not.
Same with being too positive. For some, no doubt, this will prove to be beneficent. For the majority though, as this research revealed, it will have long term harmful effects. It replaces persistence with complacency, and aspiration with a sense of entitlement.
It is a scary thought, though: That the Baby Boom generation, which, as a species, can be so incredibly smug itself, has managed to raise a whole generation which will become even more unbearable than their parents ever were.
Think about the fame ‘culture’ we are enjoying now and multiply that with some unmentionable X Factor. In other words, remember Orwell and 1984? How the interrogator said, “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – - for ever”.
Well, I suppose that will be our fate, now – to get stamped on our collective face forever, by the pink boots of some future, frightful horde of Paris Hiltons.
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