It suddenly hit me: we were the generation raised under the theories of Dr. Spock. It was the great era of what George Lakoff called the "nurturant parenting" frame, which stresses what he taught. "His ideas influenced several generations of parents, encouraging them to be more flexible and affectionate with their children and to treat t…
It suddenly hit me: we were the generation raised under the theories of Dr. Spock. It was the great era of what George Lakoff called the "nurturant parenting" frame, which stresses what he taught. "His ideas influenced several generations of parents, encouraging them to be more flexible and affectionate with their children and to treat them as individuals." The backlash against this arose in part because of his anti war position on Vietnam, and the likes of Spiro Agnew hated him; under Reagan and after, the model of "strict father" frame was pushed to counter what was seen as the disorder arising from the war- protest, civil rights, 2nd wave feminist generation. "Permissiveness" became the "woke" of its day. This, combined with the feeling that education, including college, was really a super trade school aimed at jobs jobs jobs so that arts, history, humanities were a waste of precious time (and perhaps precious bodily fluids?)--this combination has I think narrowed a whole lot of peoples' chances for a fullness of life they don't even know they are missing.
It obviously isn't a lock step requirement of any generation to be like the trends--but I think Dr. Spock started a trend that really gave a big swath of a generation "something completely different" for a while.
I agree, Susan, parenting style has a lot to do with it. Having worked with kids in an informal educational setting for the last 35 years, I have seen the dramatic changes!
It suddenly hit me: we were the generation raised under the theories of Dr. Spock. It was the great era of what George Lakoff called the "nurturant parenting" frame, which stresses what he taught. "His ideas influenced several generations of parents, encouraging them to be more flexible and affectionate with their children and to treat them as individuals." The backlash against this arose in part because of his anti war position on Vietnam, and the likes of Spiro Agnew hated him; under Reagan and after, the model of "strict father" frame was pushed to counter what was seen as the disorder arising from the war- protest, civil rights, 2nd wave feminist generation. "Permissiveness" became the "woke" of its day. This, combined with the feeling that education, including college, was really a super trade school aimed at jobs jobs jobs so that arts, history, humanities were a waste of precious time (and perhaps precious bodily fluids?)--this combination has I think narrowed a whole lot of peoples' chances for a fullness of life they don't even know they are missing.
It obviously isn't a lock step requirement of any generation to be like the trends--but I think Dr. Spock started a trend that really gave a big swath of a generation "something completely different" for a while.
I agree, Susan, parenting style has a lot to do with it. Having worked with kids in an informal educational setting for the last 35 years, I have seen the dramatic changes!