The Daily Telegraph published an open letter signed by more than 100 leading doctors, academics and other intellectuals blaming junk food, marketing, over-competitive schooling and electronic entertainment for seriously affecting the development of young children.
In my opinion, the abundance of opportunities for parents in privileged countries is seriously affecting the dynamic of the relationship with their children, often times exposing them to untested methods. The paradox of abundance is well illustrated by the common metaphor of the “rich spoiled kid”, but we seem to have grown apathetic to such wisdom. We are all richer and we are spoiling our kids, but fail to see anything wrong with it. In a culture of consumism, the only winners are the corporations profiting from the growing obsession to “care” for our children through products and services that have little to do with their most basic needs to be nurtured and allowed to discover the world at their own pace.
Sadly, some of the more traditional societies, which place family values above all, are also some of the most challenged in our globalized world, forcing concerned parents to migrate to cities that will offer better opportunities for the new generations, not realizing that maybe they are signing a very different deal. Again, the paradox of abundance is that the richer a society is, the more likely it is to doom its youngsters. No wonder the responsible thing to do is to move to the suburbs to raise a family, as if living a few kilometers (or miles) away from the city will shield the children from the influence of the system.
There is a good reason traditional societies place such importance on maintaining a strong family core: they are in survival mode, and as such they need to ensure that the new generations will be strong to carry on the difficult task ahead of them. Richer societies don’t have this concern anymore, so their children are only raised to perpetuate a flawed system that requires very little effort from their citizens to keep moving.
We all love our children, but it is time to question whether they need the though love.
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