You have probably noticed that today’s children are harder to engage, and even when they start focusing, their interest is hard to maintain; despite being stimulated by many stimuli, they are often bored and find it hard to cope with boredom.
“As a therapist I have been working with children, parents and teachers for many years. I believe that today’s generation is increasingly regressing in many respects, and that adaptability seems to be increasingly absent. Our environment also influences how ‘strong’ or ‘weak’ we are as individuals. Unfortunately, despite our good intentions, we often contribute to the development of our children in the wrong direction,” says Razvan Danc, a communications expert and trainer.
The expert has found 5 reasons why children are spoiled.
1. They get everything
Children get everything they want, and right away. If they shout that they’re hungry, thirsty or bored, we’ll grant their wishes at once.
The secret to future success lies in teaching them to wait patiently. They need to learn to manage and tolerate stress, but today’s generations are less and less equipped to deal with stressful situations. Children can’t stand it when parents dare to say “not now”; they want everything right away.
2. Limited social interaction
Most of us lead a very busy life, and we try to keep our children busy with gadgets instead of personal interaction. Unfortunately, we have replaced outdoor walks with tech devices, friends with virtual acquaintances. The brain is like a muscle: we need to exercise it. If you want your child to be able to ride a bike, you have to teach them. If we want them to be patient, we have to teach them to be patient. The same applies to any skill that needs to be acquired.
3. We have created an artificial world for our children
We are constantly afraid that our children may become bored, so we grant their wishes every minute and create an artificial “fun” world for them. We live in two different worlds: they live in the “world of fun”, we live in the “world of work”. Why shouldn’t the children help in the kitchen? Why shouldn’t they clean up after themselves? Monotonous work is not a pleasant thing for the brain, so it has to be taught to cope with it and do it.
4. Gadgets
Gadgets are free nannies; we don’t have to pay for them every time and they keep our kids “busy”. But after a while, the children can’t appreciate everyday life because it’s much more boring compared to virtual reality.
After several hours of virtual reality, children find it harder and harder to process information in the classroom because they are used to the overstimulating world of video games. Technology is emotionally distancing us from our children and family members.
5. Children control the world
What do we achieve by giving our children what they want, rather than what is good for them? Without proper nutrition and enough sleep, children become irritable, anxious and inattentive. What’s more, they learn that they can always do what they want.
In order to achieve our goals in life, we often have to adapt and do what we need to do rather than what we want to do. If a child wants to be a football player, they have to train every day. Our children may know what they want, but they don’t know what they have to do to achieve their goals.