The Child Trap: Books: The New Yorker
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2008/11/17/081117crbo_books_acocella?currentPage=all

The rise of overparenting. Insightful and amusing.

The literature on overparenting raises a number of sticky questions. For example, is it really wrong for us to push our children to excel in areas where they are talented?

“Young people have a marvelous faculty of either dying or adapting themselves to circumstances.” The article reviews books about the new "crisis" of overparenting. There are some helpful comments, but it is nice that the author acknowledges the pendulum swings in pop psychology and in parenting. Would be nice to follow some of the implications of these movements. The article briefly touches on the implications of the selfishness of current parents, but it is only hypothesis. I'd be intersted in a thorough analysis of implications from a historical perspective. Every generation seems to believe the next generation is spoiled and lazy, which seems to be the real critique behind the overparenting books.

The rise of overparenting.