Kuwoobie wrote:
If that is the case, then I wonder, why is this an issue now? Helicopter parenting is certainly nothing new.
Maybe, maybe not.
This is a pretty interesting article, in which the writer draws some conclusions based on the fact that unstructured, unsupervised play has steadily fallen out of fashion over the last several decades. That correlates to an increase in anxiety and depression in kids, as evidenced by 130 years' worth of psychological testing conducted on samples of students.
The linked article wrote:
The increased psychopathology seems to have nothing to do with realistic dangers and uncertainties in the larger world. The changes do not correlate with economic cycles, wars, or any of the other kinds of world events that people often talk about as affecting children's mental states. Rates of anxiety and depression among children and adolescents were far lower during the Great Depression, World War II, the Cold War, and the turbulent 1960s and early ‘70s than they are today. The changes seem to have much more to do with the way young people view the world than with the way the world actually is.
Personally, I wonder how much of the increase in anxiety and depression he mentions is due to the amount of information available. I know it sounds silly; but at a time when we should feel empowered by the wealth of information all around us, I think we're overwhelmed.