I won’t deny that parents these days are horrible at their job however a lot of people who talk about this issue miss the point of how modern parents suck to begin with. The biggest reason is the methods of parenting modern parents use (e.g… giving kids ipads instead of actually parenting), the reason why parents do this is mostly due to genuine lack of time to properly raise a kid. From my growing adult experience comparing prices of basic goods now compared to back then, and being shocked basic jobs, BASIC FUCKING JOBS, now require degrees that could bankrupt me.
I can see why it’s insanely hard to raise a kid nowadays. You try raising a child in today’s age where where inflation combined with shit wages, the fact you can barely find a job nowadays, and long work hours. There’s a reason why people these days aren’t having kids these days. With such extreme pressure, parents would have no choice but to let the ipad raise the kids. If you’re aware of the ipad baby epidemic, you should know the damage this type of parenting does.
Essentially the question of why modern parents suck is basically society putting extreme pressure on parents, modern parents being unable to meet such expectations, and then society coping and seething that a sizeable chunk of kids are so horribly raised despite the fact THEY are the ones that put such pressure that gave them no choice but to let the ipad raise them begin with. They don’t suck because they’re lazy, they suck because society forced them to.
One of my last posts on Reddit was related to this. I frequented the r/teachers sub because I’m a teacher. But I hated that sub. So many burnout educators blaming parents, and only parents, for their students’ poor behavior. There was always a thread about “why are kids so poorly behave nowadays!?” The main complaint about parents was the letting smartphones raise their kids. But like you said, they miss the point entirely.
To paraphrase myself, there is a clear through line that links poor parenting skills to economic precarity and social atomization. Parenting takes a lot of physical and emotional energy. If you’re overworked, under-employed, worried about the next paycheck, uncertain about the future, or whatever AND you have a precision engineered, scientifically perfected, rectangular instrument of distraction in your pocket at all times it’s no wonder to me kids’ social/emotional needs are being neglected. Overworked parents in ages past might turn to the bottle. Now we’re all overworked and our liquor cabinets fit in the palm of our hands.
Liberal teachers love to complain that parents are too entitled now. Parents want teachers and schools to solve their kids’ problems, prepare them for the future, protect them from the scary real world, to raise their kids, blah blah blah. Teachers complain, but continue to show up to school day after day because they’re stuck in the same precarity as the parents. But even they know, deep down, that it shouldn’t be this hard to raise children. They just can’t figure out why it’s so hard.
They aren’t wrong, but your point still stands. The parents should do the parenting but they are too busy so they have no choice. I find it funny when cuckservatives mald about family not being as important when they literally made the policies that ruined it to begin with. If I have the mood I’d probably upload again
Absolutely.
I don’t think I articulated my point about parents being entitled well enough. I assume their entitlement is born out of an unconscious understanding that child rearing requires community support. But we are so atomized by capital infused lifestyles that some parents seem very entitled when their kids enter school. I think that us educators have to realize that school is, for some of parents, their first interaction in their adult lives with community support. So we get parents who want us to raise their children because they might be exhausted by their own efforts. They’re trying to impart the labor of child rearing onto the education system. And I don’t blame them at all for that. That entitled behavior can be very negative though.
In a sane society, we would attempt unburden the education system by providing housing, free childcare, walkable neighborhoods, health insurance, etc.
*cough cough cough*millenialsOh shit! How could I forget! Ignore everything I’ve said!