Are we stifling our children with too much care, asks Bageshree S in The Hindu. Are parents stifling creativity snd independent thinking in their child(ren)?
Is this the fall-out of the smaller-families-fewer- children system? Large families = more heads and mouths to worry about? Fewer children + absence of other family members (grandparents, aunts and cousins) + possibly guilt about not being able to spend time (“quality” or “quantity”) with children = OOPs, short for Obsessive Oppressive Parents?
As Tim Gill, in his article in The Guardian says, if there’s one thing today’s children desperately need, it’s some “benign neglect”.
I remember reading in ToI a while ago that in an attempt to give their kids a headstart in life, parents are putting them through personality development programmes……
A headstart to what ? Heck ! Till I was 18 or so, I did not even know I had to have a personality and so on….