Last week when we boarded our British Airways plane to fly from London to Orlando, Dave and I had gone through the process of seeing that we had comfy seats - well as comfy as possible for a nine hour flight in the regular section.
Row 15, opposite isle seats. Perfect. But when I went to sit down, there was a pile of kid stuff in my seat. And when I asked the glaring pre adolescent young man in the other seat if he would please move it, mom appeared explaining, pleading really, to sit next to her two kids and husband because "they can't cope without me."
I sat in a middle seat further back. But I could still hear her trying to placate these kids clear across the Atlantic.
I just read a long article by Elizabeth Kolbert called "Spoiled Rotten." Her premise is that "With the exception of the imperial offspring of the Ming dynasty...American kids may represent the most indulged young people in the history of the world."
She says we've gone from "helicopter parents" to "jet-powered turbo attack model." And then there's "snowplow parents," who try to clear every obstacle from their children's paths." Like suing the high school over a math grade.
Kolbert's point? Some of these kids, with their parents blazing the trail, may be able to get into Brown, but they can't clean a house, do laundry or tie their shoes. Or, as I experienced, sit on an airplane without mom there to anticipate their needs.
They have no survival skills. So they implode after leaving for college, not because of the work in the classroom but because they have no idea how to take care of themselves. They don't know how to mess up and then clean up. They don't know that other people in the world have needs as powerful as their own.
I know a lot of kids and parents who are not caught up in the entitlement, "you're special" concept but I also know a lot who are. Makes me sad.
***
Row 15, opposite isle seats. Perfect. But when I went to sit down, there was a pile of kid stuff in my seat. And when I asked the glaring pre adolescent young man in the other seat if he would please move it, mom appeared explaining, pleading really, to sit next to her two kids and husband because "they can't cope without me."
I sat in a middle seat further back. But I could still hear her trying to placate these kids clear across the Atlantic.
I just read a long article by Elizabeth Kolbert called "Spoiled Rotten." Her premise is that "With the exception of the imperial offspring of the Ming dynasty...American kids may represent the most indulged young people in the history of the world."
She says we've gone from "helicopter parents" to "jet-powered turbo attack model." And then there's "snowplow parents," who try to clear every obstacle from their children's paths." Like suing the high school over a math grade.
Kolbert's point? Some of these kids, with their parents blazing the trail, may be able to get into Brown, but they can't clean a house, do laundry or tie their shoes. Or, as I experienced, sit on an airplane without mom there to anticipate their needs.
They have no survival skills. So they implode after leaving for college, not because of the work in the classroom but because they have no idea how to take care of themselves. They don't know how to mess up and then clean up. They don't know that other people in the world have needs as powerful as their own.
I know a lot of kids and parents who are not caught up in the entitlement, "you're special" concept but I also know a lot who are. Makes me sad.
***
