13 April 2012

Parents ruin simple Easter fun

Because I've been in youth ministry for a number of years now, I'm often asked a question something along these lines: "What's wrong with kids today?"

It's a loaded question, of course, and carries with it all sorts of presumptions, which - in my experience - are not generally true.  Even so, when asked this question I usually answer, "Their parents."

As one piece of evidence for my answer, consider this story (it's a bit old, I know, but I've been otherwise occupied) about the cancellation of an Easter Egg Hunt in Colorado Springs because of the behavior of the parents:
Parenting observers cite the cancellation as a prime example of so-called "helicopter parents" — those who hover over their children and are involved in every aspect of their children's lives — to ensure that they don't fail, even at an Easter egg hunt. 
"They couldn't resist getting over the rope to help their kids," said Ron Alsop, a former Wall Street Journal reporter and author of "The Trophy Kids Grow Up," which examines the "millennial children" generation. 
"That's the perfect metaphor for millennial children. They (parents) can't stay out of their children's lives. They don't give their children enough chances to learn from hard knocks, mistakes" [more].
Parents, please don't ruin your children's fun by being obnoxious.

Capello tip to Deacon Kandra.

2 comments:

  1. What happened to the days when not every one had to be a "winner?" We learned that you don't always get what you want in life, nothing is handed to you and you need to work to get what you want. Unfortunately, parents can ruin everything by sticking their noses in where they don't necessarily belong.

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  2. I listen to the other moms at Scout meetings talk about how they can go on-line to read the announcements at their children's high school and monitor their lunch account to the point of knowing what they bought for lunch. I feel like such a slacker sometimes - sometimes the balance in my children's account reaches $0.

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