Why is Parenting More Difficult Today?

The PARENTING STYLE of yester year was autocratic. The object was to control the child and that made it easier to parent. The autocratic parenting style is used by less families today due to social changes in this country that honor and nurture the human spirit. It has also come about by an explosion in the varying number of books and opinions published by differing methodologies and psychologists. Parents are confused as to how to raise children and many are just throwing their arms up in frustration and guessing their way through a very critical and difficult job. This is exactly what led me to get my psychology degrees, write my books, and develop my organization to help parents; Cooperative Kids.


TECHNOLOGY and SOCIAL MEDIA has changed drastically over the years and today, parents must stay up on the latest technology to know what to allow their child to have and use, and how to keep them safe secure from predators and their peers. Children today with cell phones, Facebook and the Internet are not safe and suffer from a "modern day" vulnerability that did not exist when we were children. Bullying for us ended at 3:15 when we arrived home. Because of technology and social media, bullying can now occur on a wider basis and 24 hours a day.

The ENTERTAINMENT AND ADVERTISING INDUSTRIES no longer have the best interest of the family and the child in mind and are leaving the policing to the parents. The problem is that the parents are over worked, stressed, and tired, and cannot be the catch-all to keep their kids safe from the free-flowing inappropriate material being pumped into the homes through the Internet and the television channels. Children are seeing television shows like Jersey Shore and The Bad Girls and begin believing that this type of inappropriate behavior is OK. So many parents are giving up the fight. In fact, entertainment moguls are targeting our children at incredibly early ages to "sign them on" as consumers. The entertainment industry has removed child safety from their products and services. The movie/television rating system has been down graded, more adult-related subjects and shows are being shown on televisions at earlier hours, game systems are making inappropriate video games for kids to play, music is easier to download to ipods and much of it is inappropriate for children and young teens.

The PRESSURE TO BE A SMART (AND STRONG) PARENT is very challenging, especially when it appears to many parents that "everyone else" is becoming more lenient and letting their children watch inappropriate television and have the latest unguarded technology and gadgets. This added to what some call the "new age of parenting" has parents caving to their children's requests (or demands) because, as they say in the defeatist mode, "they are going to see it somewhere." It is cute when a parent gives an 8 year old a cell phone, but when they begin sexting at age 13, it is too late to take the phone away. Many single parents are afraid of their child's rages at removing cell phones and Facebook accounts, afraid they will hear the dreaded words, "I'm going to live with my dad (or mom) because he lets me have a phone." It then becomes just easier to give in and hope for the best.

Comments

  1. alizybethJune 2, 2018 at 1:17 PM

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