"By the time your kid is entering high school, you ought to have confidence they can wake themselves up and get themselves washed and dressed in clothing that's clean," Lythcott-Haims says. "I underscore this because too many of us are letting kids off. We're their alarm clock and then what happens? They're late for breakfast; they're late to school; and we drive them. All that teaches them is, 'I'll always be there to wake you up and drive you,' which is not true."
Lythcott-Haims recently heard from a colleague at a major university that a parent had installed a webcam in the dorm room of a freshman to wake the kid up. "That's a parenting fail," she says. "We've gotten ourselves worked up into a frothy frenzy about grades and scores in high school, and further into college, and we sort of treat our kids' childhood as if every day, every quiz, every afternoon is a make or break moment for their future," she continues. "We feel the stakes are high, and therefore we must help, but the stakes are low in childhood compared to what they will be in college, and what they'll really be in the world beyond."
No comments:
Post a Comment