FEAR OF SPOILING:
Rethinking Common Assumptions About Children (and Parenting)
The conventional wisdom is that helicopter parents are everywhere, overprotecting their children instead of letting them learn from failure; that we indulge and coddle rather than setting limits, with the result that we’re raising a generation of narcissists; that grades are inflated and trophies handed out too readily. But are these criticisms new? Are they true? And what underlying values — as well as assumptions about child development, human behavior, and motivation — have led even political progressives to sound like social conservatives when the conversation turns to children? Drawing from his newest book, The Myth of the Spoiled Child, Alfie Kohn challenges media-stoked fears and misconceptions about kids — what they’re like and how they’re raised.