Most Frequent Problems of Modern Children
Today’s children are different from the previous generations of kids. The development of scientific progress, the abundance of information, as well as the rapidly changing pace and lifestyle of the people have a tremendous impact on the character of the kids from the very first seconds of life. What is the difference between today’s children and the previous generations of kids?
Overprotection and lack of attention
Psychologists say that the majority of today’s children suffer from either overprotection or lack of attention. Both factors affect the child’s character and his/her psychological development strongly.
Today, women are concerned about career just as men and resort to the help of a nanny or governess soon after giving birth. The competition in the labor market is huge, so women prefer to consciously reduce their maternity leave to get back to work and people. As a result, at the age when character and psychological health of the child are formed, the kids do not see their mother.
Because of the heightened desire for attention from parents, the child can be capricious, behave provocatively, make parents show emotions, and manipulate adults. In addition, very often the child is trying to replace lack of attention with other elements: computer games, strange hobbies and friends, and may face more serious problems as a teenager, such as drugs and alcohol.
Overprotection also prevents the child from perceiving reality easily and influences the character at the very moment when it is just being formed. Mothers, who decided to dedicate their entire life to bringing up a child, protect him/her too much, trying to rescue the child from the dangers of the outside world. As a result, the child grows up spoiled, immature and frightened, unable to make decisions and move toward the goals.
Remember that character is formed during the first 5 years of life. Do not rush out of the maternity leave and do not hide the child from the world within four walls. Think about how to send your child to a nursery school or kindergarten where he/she can learn to adapt socially among peers and begin to show independence at a small age.
Child in the information flow
Today, a huge amount of information circulates around the world, and the children are its direct consumers. But the problem is that most children and adolescents do not know how to use and filter it, and therefore choose just what may seem interesting to them.
For example, computer games with elements of violence, the availability of questionable videos, including pornography, various forums with “adult” topics of conversation clearly do not contribute to healthy child development.
Imposing an absolute veto on watching TV or prohibiting the use of the Internet is not an option. Try to install filters in the search engines on your computer and block the sites that you think may have a bad influence on the kid.
Difficulties in socialization
The Internet has become a part of modern life, so children are able to use it at an early age and sometimes do it better than adults. Communication in social networks is a simplified version of a normal dialogue, so during actual meetings and contacts with peers, the child may experience discomfort and demonstrate reserved and insecure behavior. Communicating on the Internet, children lose their natural communication skills that will obviously have its consequences during adulthood.
Remember how much time you used to spend walking with friends along the streets? Try to distract the child from the virtual world and get him interested in sports, for example.
On the one hand, if you use these opportunities competently, you will be able to help your child develop rapidly. But sometimes it happens that due to the huge range of entertainment a child loses the ability to invent games and imagine.
Determine the child’s interests
Remember that the child’s aspirations can be sent back on track only with the help of the correct information and parents’ contribution. Try to identify the interests of your child and let him/her attend an interest club or special courses. Encourage the child’s love for music, sports, drawing, learning foreign languages.
In our childhood, in the childhood of our moms, dads and grandparents, there were no computers, the Internet and a huge variety of TV channels and video games. People used to invent their own games, inspired by books. Today’s children read very little or do not read at all. Very often, it is difficult to make the child read. Therefore, audio books can be a good way out for those parents whose children do not want to devote time to reading. You can turn them on at bedtime or during long trips.
