Spoonfed Generation: How to Raise Independent Children

Product Description

The vital guide to letting kids reclaim their independence It's well established that parents in western countries such as Australia currently do too much for their kids, albeit with good intentions. Before driving their kids to school (or station or bus stop) each morning most parents would have woken their children up, made their breakfast and lunch, depositing the latter in their schoolbags, before reminding them to get dressed and brush their teeth. All this well-intentioned activity may make for an easier life at home but it encourages children to be dependent on adults for longer. This is the exact opposite of what parents have done in the past, which is to develop their children's independence and achieve the most important parenting outcome of all - their own redundancy. There are a number of reasons for this high level of dependency parenting, including family shrinkage (parents are able to do a great deal for kids in small families), older parents (often over-concerned about their children), busy lives (it's easier to do than delegate) and a heightened fear that the world is a dangerous place for young people. While terms such as 'helicopter parents', 'bubble-wrapping kids' and 'over-parenting' are now common place, they are unhelpful and offer little direction for parents. Spoonfed Generation will explain the importance of children's independence and the vital stages to letting go. Never before has a generation been so dependent on their parents; now it's time to remove the spoon and put it back in the drawer.The vital guide to letting kids reclaim their independence It's well established that parents in western countries such as Australia currently do too much for their kids, albeit with good intentions. Before driving their kids to school (or station or bus stop) each morning most parents would have woken their children up, made their breakfast and lunch, depositing the latter in their schoolbags, before reminding them to get dressed and brush their teeth. All this well-intentioned activity may make for an easier life at home but it encourages children to be dependent on adults for longer. This is the exact opposite of what parents have done in the past, which is to develop their children's independence and achieve the most important parenting outcome of all - their own redundancy. There are a number of reasons for this high level of dependency parenting, including family shrinkage (parents are able to do a great deal for kids in small families), older parents (often over-concerned about their children), busy lives (it's easier to do than delegate) and a heightened fear that the world is a dangerous place for young people. While terms such as 'helicopter parents', 'bubble-wrapping kids' and 'over-parenting' are now common place, they are unhelpful and offer little direction for parents. Spoonfed Generation will explain the importance of children's independence and the vital stages to letting go. Never before has a generation been so dependent on their parents; now it's time to remove the spoon and put it back in the drawer.
Michael Grose is Australia's number-one parenting educator, with an enviable track record of helping parents and professionals raise and teach today's kids. His best-selling Why First Borns Rule the World has sold over 23,000 copies. Michael is a regular weekly parenting columnist for 'Body and Soul' in Sydney's Sunday Telegraph, which has a circulation of 6 million. He has a popular website, www.parentingideas.com.au, which parents find an invaluable source of easy-to-access information. On the website he has information on all his books. He presents a half-hour parenting segment each fortnight on ABC radio and appears regularly on the national Australian television program 9AM, commenting on parenting issues of the day. He is a popular speaker, giving up to 100 seminars and presentations each year to parents and professionals in Australia and in the United Kingdom. Michael is the only person to have conducted a parenting seminar for a nation's leaders, when he ventured into Parliament House, Canberra, in 2004 and addressed politicians on all sides of the political fence about how to behave so your children will too!