Toddlers prepare for their first big interview
bbc.com
bbc.com
Everybody has to deal with living up to their parents' hopes and dreams, and we all manage somehow. Certainly there's plenty of room for improvement on all sides, but if you're looking for a special sympathy for the upper class, you'll not get it from me.
This of course is all conjecture, and I would love to see actual data on the subject.
On a more serious note. Things like this is great if done correctly.
If an professional industry can be grown around child care, I think its better than having parents do infinite amount of harm to their kids.
However its almost ridiculous that society is heading that way. One of the foundation of society is the relationship between parents and their kids. That relationship develops in early childhood.
I think parents in hong kong are taking life way too seriously - what are you gaining out of it ? Does it matter that your city is twice as performant as new-york or shanghai.
My grandmother still lives by global standards below the global proverty line by income. And she has the most chilled life I have seen. Ofcourse if your country is ravaged by malaria or violence then there is something that needs to be done.
Humans are not machines - we have computers now for that. Human creativity pays itself and creativity comes from boredom and self learing.
Also being from a culture similar to hong- kong. these types of things instil a sense of "FUCK YOU IF YOU FAIL!" This is very counterproductive attitude to have if you expect to be part of the social chain of invention from galileo and newton.
We know that if you drink lots of alcohol while pregnant, you're going to harm your child. We also know that if you are abusive towards your children, they might end up with all sorts of psychological trauma.
But beyond that? Different parenting strategies probably have an effect on a kid's emotional and intellectual development, but the jury is still out on exactly how much of an effect and exactly what, then, the best parenting strategy is. So, doing an "infinite amount of harm" to your kids because you're somehow not a professional at raising kids? I don't think that's even possible.
-- but anyway, I very much agree with the main point of your comment; society seems to increasingly want to turn people into robots.
Kids are surprisingly resilient, and the weight of the scientific evidence we have suggests that once confounding factors like socioeconomic status are accounted for, parenting choices don't have a large impact on at least the objectively measurable aspects of outcomes (e.g. IQ, test scores, attention span).
It's actually surprising how horrible the effects of neglect (especially during the first 24 months) is on kids. You're probably worse off as a kid if your mother didn't do drugs during pregnancy, but then is too high to consistently take care of you for the next two years.
[edit] Also if your parent does anything to put you in the foster care system in the first 3 years of your life; the system tends to move kids around a lot, and sudden changes to the primary caregiver between 6 months and 3 years significantly increases the risk for attachment disorders.
No, it's not great. Children should play, first and foremost. And not just when they're 2.5 -- even when they are 10.
> f an professional industry can be grown around child care, I think its better than having parents do infinite amount of harm to their kids.
In general, parents don't do infinite harm. They tend to love their kids -- a professional child carer won't.
What's wrong with you, people?
Sometimes I think that the Asian obsession with school curriculum was designed make money out of fear.
Schools' focus should be learning itself. Any form of extrinsic reward – praises, grades, smileys – adds up to nullify the learning experience.
imho we're raising a generation of selfish individuals. We're raising people who won't do anything without a solid structure and reward system to motivate them. Free play is what builds children's self-reliance and independence.
The world needs creative engineers in all industries who can come up with original ideas not ones who are good at repeating and rote memorization, although those are fantastic secondary skills.
That implies that there was a wrong way to play and interact. Are they only taking good kids, or something?