A few days ago, The New Yorker ran an article titled Why Are American Kids So Spoiled? If you’re a parent (or interested in parenting), I highly recommend you click through and read it. The article considers some of the parenting behaviours prevalent in modern America (and, I would argue, many other countries in the Western World — Australia included) that are leading to the growing phenomena of “adultescents”, and compares these behaviours with the parenting techniques of other cultures.
The article was brought to my attention by Tricia of Critters and Crayons fame. She posted the link on her Facebook page with a general ‘What do you think?’ to the masses. Rather than fill up her FB comments (any more than I already had), I decided to write a blog post with my thoughts.
But really, how many people want to hear my long-winded, ranty opinions on modern parenting techniques? Sometimes even I don’t want to hear them. So I thought I’d take a different approach.
I give you:
Jo Eberhardt is a writer of speculative fiction, mother to two adorable boys, and lover of words and stories.
