Sunday, June 29, 2008

Our little emperors: does worrying do more harm than good? - Times Online

Our little emperors: does worrying do more harm than good? - Times Online: "A US academic has coined the term kindergarchy – a new (affluent) world order in which children rule. “Children have gone from background to foreground in domestic life with more attention centred on them, their upbringing [and] their small accomplishments,” wrote Joseph Epstein, a recently retired lecturer at Northwestern University, in The Weekly Standard, a US magazine."
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I think Epstein's next words were, "Get off my lawn!"

Maybe he doesn't get the principle behind praising these "small accomplishments." Kids develop confidence by experiencing success, and if you reward them for doing well in school and so forth they will probably direct their energies in socially useful directions. That way they become successful members of a productive society.

Otherwise, they might turn into crabby university professors.

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