Australian parents raising a generation of spoilt brats

[icyfroth]

A prominent Australian psychologist has warned Australia is currently raising a generation of spoilt brats, because their parents are "**bleep**" and "never say no".

Dr Michael Carr-Gregg believes today's parents have a lot to answer for, and there may be serious long-term consequences for Australia. 

An evolution in parenting styles over the last 20 years is to blame for the influx of bad parenting, Dr Carr-Gregg said.

"We've had people moving to these artificial villages called cities, primarily to get jobs and in doing so, a lot of the kinship networks have been destroyed.

An evolution in parenting styles over the last 20 years is to blame for the influx of bad parenting, Dr Carr-Gregg said.

"We've had people moving to these artificial villages called cities, primarily to get jobs and in doing so, a lot of the kinship networks have been destroyed.

"A lot of the wisdom around parenting, which was derived from grandparents, for example, has no longer been so readily available."

The consequences of bad parenting has both short- and long-term effects, warned Dr Carr-Gregg.

"The short-term consequences you can see in restaurants and in waiting rooms and in airports throughout Australia, where you have these kids who are just completely feral, running out of control.

"Parents don't do anything about it because they're frightened of being seen as bad parents or frightened to say no."

Dr Carr-Gregg said this style of parenting has major effects on the mental health of children and adolescents as they grow up.

"Long-term, I think what we're doing is infantilising a lot of children into incompetence."

Entire Article Here

Shopping on Friday, a kid was running up and down the aisle upsetting ppls shopping cart and running into ppl. His Dad never said a word. I wanted to tell the kid to stop his mad running but I wasn't game lol.

[channys_mum]

I think I had better add that I encounter lots of well behaved kids and I often say what a well mannered child you have.

[lurker172602]

So how did all of us manage to raise our children? I may be old but I certainly came along well after the motor car lol. And I have never lived in a village. My mother moved a long way from her parents when she married and my fathers parents died young so there was no family around to support them.
Like others have said, I don't believe there are that many terrible kids around. We just hear about them more.

[k0llectable5]

You are right Boris.  And it's not all parents that are spoiling their kids.  But there are some, not just here in Oz but everywhere in the developed nations.  If children aren't taught respect and manners from a young age then they will be troublesome teens, doesn't necessarily mean they will grow to be bad people but they will lose alot of respect along the way and have a hard time earning it back.  

[lloydslights]

You may have worn your skirts short and smoked, but you didn't run amok and interrupt adults' conversations, did you? 

You would have respected a policeman/teacher/adult when you were pulled up for poor behaviour. In short, you knew what was right and wrong.  Because if you didn't know, you wouldn't have become a beacon in society.

DEB

[karliandjacko]

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@lurker172602 wrote:
So how did all of us manage to raise our children? I may be old but I certainly came along well after the motor car lol. And I have never lived in a village. My mother moved a long way from her parents when she married and my fathers parents died young so there was no family around to support them.
Like others have said, I don't believe there are that many terrible kids around. We just hear about them more.

---

I think too many today expect children to be perfectly behaved all the time.   

Childhood is a learning process and not everything is learned on the first attempt. 

Even a young child who behaves perfectly on most shopping trips might have a bad day for some reason and turn feral for a moment.

[karliandjacko]

---

@lloydslights wrote:

You may have worn your skirts short and smoked, but you didn't run amok and interrupt adults' conversations, did you? 

You would have respected a policeman/teacher/adult when you were pulled up for poor behaviour. In short, you knew what was right and wrong.  Because if you didn't know, you wouldn't have become a beacon in society.

DEB

---

I have just had an interesting conversation with a local business person who laughed and said if his kids behaved like he did as a youth they would end up in jail.  Times have changed and each generation is expected to be better behaved and more civilised than the one before.

[lealta]

I never said that I was a "beacon in society".  I said I grew up to be "productive member of society".    And no, I didn't run amok or talk back to adults.  Neither did my children.  And believe me, compared to my childhood, my kids were spoiled rotten.  They had lots and lots of things that I didn't have as a child because my parents couldn't afford it.  I had a dad who beat the carp out of my brothers and I with a belt if we misbehaved in the least.  I never so much as slapped my kids.  My kids are now 30 and 28.  They both have full time jobs and are good people.  They don't rely on anyone to support them.  I never lost faith in my kids or thought their generation was lazy.  Their generation was merely different than mine because of the times they lived in. 

[katydidthat]

This conversation reminded me of a number of books ... Tess of the d'Urbevilles, Oliver Twist, Pride and Prejudice ...

Children have been "unsatisfactory" for ever ...

[lealta]

You're right Katy.  They've been saying the same thing about the younger generation for years and years and years.  Here is an interesting article on this topic if anyone cares to read.

http://time.com/19818/whats-really-wrong-with-young-people-today-juvenoia/

[katydidthat]

I was with the author up until

"Teens and young adults remain one group of people that can be publicly disparaged with almost no condemnation. Some of the anti-youth rhetoric gets wrapped up in language about “protecting” our youth. But a vein of true loathing runs through much of the discussion. And until we’re honest about that it will continue to produce urban legends and junk science."

"True loathing?" I found that a little strong.

What I find with many kids these days is that they appear more secure and more aware of their rights than I and my fellow students did ...