Revisionist parenting
I’ve been reading some books about teenagers lately. Ready or Not, Here Life Comes, by Dr. Mel Levine had me wishing I had done a lot of things differently as a parent over the last decade. Certainly, one often wishes there were a child-rearing manual available, particularly during the teenage years, so I would recommend this book as being full of helpful hints and insights. I especially like his stance on the overmedication of kids (mostly boys) who all seem to be ADD or ADHD these days. However, his contention that parents, schools and our culture are not preparing children adequately to be adults must be taken with a grain of salt. After thinking it over and discussing with a friend who teaches Junior High in Hartford, Connecticut, it seems that this is not a new phenomenom. People, as a rule, just aren’t that good at being planful, self-aware and knowledgeable about their strengths and weaknesses. Those skills take years to hone and can be gained only through often painful experiences. That said, there is nothing wrong with trying to inculcate these abilities in our children. As Socrates said, ‘the unexamined life isn’t worth living.’ Then again, look what happened to him!
For more about Levine’s book, see my review.