Read the article here

I really thought it was interesting...but I'm still interested in seeing a place where they give out awards for just performing. (the only two kinds of awards we were given were for highest performance and most improved. I like the most improved award because it's a good shout out to the kids who work hard.)

But yeah, I remember the "you are special" thing going back well...my whole life. I always figured it was just something people tell you, one of those basic rules of life. Parents are supposed to love their children, work hard and you can do anything, make sure your parents know you love them, you are special... I never really thought that I was actually special (maybe that's just one more reason why despite my era of upbringing I'm not a "narcissist")

The first time I ever learned about self-esteem, I was in 5th grade...and wouldn't you know it, I was consistent with low self esteem...right down to the walking with your books to your chest and looking with your head down while walking instead of looking forward.

I was never taught empathy, it just seemed to develop at an early age. A lot of times I don't get why it has to be taught to people as it has always just seemed natural to me...if my kid needs to be taught empathy I don't even know where to begin on teaching. But even so...I can't help but compare myself to other people. My parents aren't exactly role models for dealing with emotions in healthy ways so...I'm kinda messed up there too

Most of the time I find the stereotypes of my generation to be really inaccurate, but I agree with a lot of the things in this article.

[leahcim]

Without getting into the specifics or details as I have just read, it appears that the authors and phshological commentators are definitely on the right path on this issue.

I am in the position, at 54, to discern 3 distinct eras of childhood issues.

They would be those of my parents, in the 30's, whose basic needs were based on pure survival as they grew up just after the depression.

My own childhood and that of my peers in the 60's. We were given little, made to work for a pittance of an allowance, barely enough to go to a movie of buy a slurpee from 7-11.

The childhood of my nieces and nephews in the 90's through current, a childhood of pampering, over-indulgence, and over compensation for what their parents did not have which leads to...well, to put it simply, a very spoiled child. But, of high self-esteem.

I have seen IRL what the article delves into, the bullying and indulgence and other issues and truly have no idea as to what is going on in the minds of these children (o.k., pre-teens if you wish). They are rude in manner and high in ego.

It is a worthwhile read and I hope these kids learn very quickly what they are all about.

WHAT WILL THE CHILDREN OF THESE CHILDREN BE LIKE? I'm very curious and I hope I'm alive to see it. On second thought.............

Yeah, I was just thinking the same thing...
I don't know what I'd be like as a parent...I hope I'm a good one

I find the kids even just a few years younger then me, and even some of my peers to be annoying with their inflated sense of entitlement, and those are the kids who get everything they want and get huffy when they don't

...but I still don't get why people see the entire generation as such. I've seen plenty of selfish and childish adults who only think of themselves as well, and plenty of mature teens who don't think their poop smells like roses and have a realistic sense of self that isn't blown up in grandeur.

But that aside, one of the main points that I agree with is that these kids don't know themselves. And while my friends know many things, I'm curious about how self-aware they are sometimes ...plus my brother and I have zero direction in life, but that has multiple factors in it.

[Blue93]

I got to say i didnt read the whole article but skipped trough it...

Sounds like any other 'back in the days when I was a kid... I couldnt get (...) when i was young, When I was a kid you had to...., The kids these days....'

Every generation does it. There's nothing more wrong with kids today as kids of yesterday... Just diff time, diff circumstances.
Always ticks me off a bit this whole 'kids of these days vs when i was a kid' talk...

[Timgt5]

My concern is that parenting and discipline are not what they used to be. Parents who have themselves grown up in the 70s and 80s see kids as little showpieces or extensions of their own ambitons. I think modern parents in many cases try way too hard to mold the kids into an ideal. When the kid does not fit the ideal, they are scorned, bullied and alienated.

Parents also out of fear of being accused as abusers are afraid to apply discipline to their kids. So when little Johnny or Susie act up, instead of a little spanking or stern speech, we pump them full of pyschoactive drugs (Ritalin) whose like term effects are not fully known. I am afraid we could be raising a whole group of kids that will group to have a lot of pyschological issues.

[leahcim]

KAIKA: Sorry, I didn't make it clear that I don't see the entire generation as such either. It is an underlying theme that affects many, maybe most, but not all.