Hurried Child Part 1 outline PDF

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Julie Bowker Notes...

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PSY 458 Summer III 2019 Piaget cont., Hurried Child Part 1 15-7-19 Part 2: The Hurried Child

The earlier, the better?  Elkind wanted to dispute the idea that earlier is better. He argues that we are operating from the perspective that we are all over, and that if we introduce kids to ideas and experiences at younger ages then there will be positive results.  If you teach children coding at 3 it won’t help when they are 18- Elkind would say no. there is no evidence. Not only positive effects but negative effects- stress. Developmentally inappropriate.  A stressed child is often a hurried child. Hurrying- trying to hurrying up development.  Hurried Child Syndrome – it is a condition in which parents over schedule their children’s lives, push them hard for academic success and expect them to behave and react as miniature adults.  Education system hurries, media hurries, internet hurries the child too.  Evidenceo Infant mortality is up o More children are living in poverty today o Childhood obesity has increased by 50% o Teenage pregnancy rates in the US are higher than any other western society. o Homicide and suicide rates have tripled from 20 years ago o There has been a decline in SAT scores o 15-20% children are failing kg o Millions of children are medicated to be more “tractable” at home and school.

The “fast-track.”  Life was a stroll but now it is a marathon sprint. Everything is fast tracked and is really fast paced. It has led to a tremendous amount of pressure on work/money and performance. The outcome is really important.  He also mentions the “don’t waste your life” mentality. Start doing things asap and start doing something at a really young age.  He links all this to “cheating”. When there is so much pressure on work &performance and it leads to cheating.  Adults- try to find an extra hour to get more work done, try to find shortcuts.  Trying to get ahead of everyone else. Extra tuition classes  You never really get to be a kid and have fun and have free days. Don’t have time to decide things for yourself and have someone else decide things for u.  He argues that when you’re robbed of your childhood it looks like we’re back in the middle age cuz they have behave like miniature adults.  Elkind doesn’t acknowledge individual differences.

“The country that stole childhood.”

4. What would an ideal childhood look like for children who are not forced to participate in an activity they are disinterested in, in the current era? “Family” is lost, or redefined.

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He argues that long ago family was most important but now work and performance is more imp. This stressed out parents and causes them to put their own needs in front of the need of their children. This hurries the child. Parents not hurrying their children on purpose, they don’t even know about it. The parents are stressed and it just makes the child hurried. 3 primary reason why parents hurry: o Parents are more afraid now– violence, don’t let them play outside and put them in classes, parental peer pressure- my own child is gonna be left behind, they put their kids into diff classes like other parents. If they don’t, the child is gonna get left behind as other children are doing more stuff. o Parents are more alone now- they don’t have any help so they ask their kids for help. Eg. Ask kids to put the table before the parents come home, divorce o Parents are more financially insecure than ever before- they don’t feel secure in their job so they ask kids to focus on career and get a secure jobs. They get trapped in a young age. They put a lot of pressure on the kid to succeed. They also plan to enjoy their kids success in jobs vicariously (even if the kids don’t enjoy it)

5. Family is our most influential agent of socialization and although the book discusses extensively on parent's influence on 'hurrying', not much has been said about the influence of siblings. I wonder how would having a sibling affect the way one is 'hurried' into maturity.

6. Today in Singapore the issue of academic stress on children as young as the age in Primary school has been known to be able to cause very serious consequences. Is this due to the rising standards of Singapore's academics or too much pressure from the children’s parents? “Hurrying versus structuring” What is hurrying?  It is subjective stress- subjective for everyone  Sleeper effect- you don’t know they’re stressed, they’re very eager to please their parents and do whatever the parents ask them to do. Don’t show symptoms of stress.  Effects of hurrying start becoming evident at adolescence.  Negative signs of becoming hurried later in life.  It is Parent centered. If it is child centered then it is not hurrying.  Developmentally inappropriate – hurrying has to be inappropriate and doesn’t have to match the age of the child.

7. There are many examples cited in the book showing children are growing up too fast, with examples such as them dressing like adults, participating in competitive sports, and so on. But is this trend of growing up to fast still seen as adolescents move on to adulthood, or are they actually maturing and taking on adult responsibilities at a later age?  When you are hurried it disrupts the normal course of childhood and development  Role confusion Competitive with your peers, romantic peers, spouse. This becomes a way of relating to others.  Generalized anxiety, burnout, learnt helplessness, type A behavior  Hurried children become rude and ill-mannered as adults...