I am frequently troubled as I continue to meet young high school graduates who have never held a job and have basically no independent living skills. That is to say they cannot cook, do laundry, budget money, or run errands. Many cannot even drive. We live in a world of play dates and homework. Masses of homework.
I did not see homework till junior high, never did any till high school and still managed to get in to grad school with flying colors. Children today are doing 2-3 hours of homework in the third grade. 8 year olds are too young to have full time jobs (6 hours plus homework– forget sports). It’s no wonder that kids who have to study a bit more abhor school, and those that are involved in sports don’t have time to work.
Which is great and all, except that honestly, you could easily end up with a child who has never had to be alone with themselves until they get a license. Which is a bit alarming. Sometimes I wonder that all of the outside demands from multiple channels of technology and financial demands on parents don’t put a special pressure on today’s children. With the passive entertainment of video games and texting always available, how is a teenager supposed to find their own identity?
I can never quite place my finger on the problem. But there is so much, well, worship of young children going on in this society… and then the booting of them from the nest unprepared seems so sudden. Given that shift happens.
Check it out. It’s worth 8 minutes.