If you have ever talked with me about kids, you know about The Bombardment, because I bring it up all of the time. The Bombardment is my term for the amalgam of the cultural and societal issues that have changed kids and parenting over the last 20 years or so. The Bombardment has caused a number of challenges for parents, but, more particularly, kids. The challenges are serious: they have caused increases in suicides, opiate use, failure to launch, crippling anxiety…these are just a few examples, and so many times, parents don’t have a clue about the secret lives that their children live every day. Much of my work addresses these challenges.
Research and the media are starting to catch on about The Bombardment. Here is just a small sample of articles that cover what I see every day:
Brown, Emma. “Former Stanford Dean Explains Why Helicopter Parenting is Ruining a Generation of Children.” Chicago Tribune, October 19, 2015. http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/parenting/ct-helicopter-parents-20151019-story.html?track=ct_social_keywee_acquisition-subscriber_facebook_fb-post&kwp_0=63358&kwp_4=368407&kwp_1=221844
Friedersdorf, Conor. “The Rise of Victimhood Culture.” The Atlantic, September 11, 2015. http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/09/the-rise-of-victimhood-culture/404794/
Lukianoff, Greg & Jonathan Haidt. “The Coddling of the American Mind.” The Atlantic, September 2015 issue. http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/the-coddling-of-the-american-mind/399356/
Pawlowski, A. “Generation Stress? How Anxiety Rules the Secret Life of Teens.” Today Parents, September 17, 2014. http://www.today.com/parents/i-was-really-stressed-out-anxiety-rules-secret-life-teens-1D80148616
Pohle, Allison. “College Kids are Sad, Stressed, and Scared. Can Their Counseling Centers Help Them?” Boston.com, September 13, 2015. http://www.boston.com/news/education/2015/09/13/college-kids-are-sad-stressed-and-scared-can-their-counseling-centers-help-them/fQnZkVJ1rDkOzW2pznINyN/story.html?
Rosin, Hanna. “The Overprotected Kid.” The Atlantic, April 2014. http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/04/hey-parents-leave-those-kids-alone/358631/
Scelfo, Julie. “Suicide on Campus and the Pressure of Perfection.” The New York Times, July 27, 2015. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/02/education/edlife/stress-social-media-and-suicide-on-campus.html?_r=0
Schorr, Melissa. “When Did Parents Get So Scared?” The Boston Globe, August 26, 2015. https://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2015/08/26/when-did-parents-get-scared/dEsGOllSt3zhFPfy1iOzKI/story.html
Strauss, Valerie. “How ‘Twisted’ Early Childhood Education has Become—from a Child Development Expert.” Washington Post, November 24, 2015. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2015/11/24/how-twisted-early-childhood-education-has-become-from-a-child-development-expert/
Here are two books, although there are more coming out all of the time:
Lahey, Jessica. The Gift of Failure. HarperCollins, 2015.
Levin, Madeline. The Price of Privilege. HarperCollins, 2006.
I am happy to talk with you about The Bombardment and help you come up with strategies to counteract it with your kids. Feel free to get in touch.