It’s weird when you consider someone an utter tool – and yet kind of agree with something he has to say. Such is the case with this John Rosemond column, where he essentially calls 1960s-style parenting the root of all ills.
He goes on to say that 1960s parents (which, let's just acknowledge, is code for liberals and I hardly think my political tribe ruined parenting) were stupid enough to believe people like him, mental health professionals, versus the wisdom of their elders. Thus, they bought, hook line and sinker, what the mental health professionals were selling: the notion that self-esteem should be the end goal for all parenting.
Okay, Mr. Rosemond, first let me just suggest that just maybe saying that all people like you are full of hooey is maybe not the best way to begin an argument. But I have to agree with you about the culture of self-esteem. What it’s turned into are kids who are so used to being celebrated for anything, for just getting out of bed, that they don’t know how to handle a world that doesn’t find them all that special. It’s the classic “everyone gets a trophy” mentality.
My first job was at a newspaper covering a small, affluent community and the worst part of the job wasn’t the boredom or the many petty intrigues of small-town politics – it was the parents, who genuinely seemed to think we should be as invested in boosting their kids’ self esteem as they were and would request – okay, demand – stories about the most insignificant things their kids did, not to mention threaten us if we reported on their little darlings being less than perfect.
And high self-esteem hardly makes for a successful person – as a matter of fact, most people in maximum security prisons have very high self-regard.
Rosemond makes the point that previous generations taught their children to respect other people and seek to serve. I would highly disagree with that assertion, as I don’t notice, say, baby boomers being an especially other-directed bunch to say the least. But I would agree that teaching children respect for others and the desire to serve might just turn them into the kind of people who actually have earned high self-esteem.
