Have children become a sort of American sacred cow?

Question

I think Generation Z (current kids under about 14) are the most spoiled generation ever. I worry about them growing up and facing the cold reality that people have no sympathy for adults.

Americans have been getting meaner and meaner, but also more and more kid-focused. If you read any recent edition of People, the magazine is diaper ads, pregnant celebrities and articles about their kids front to back!

Americans are very close to executing people who abuse children as well as murderers, but most of us would still oppose executing those who abuse their wives (I'm against the death penalty).

I don't think this obsession with kids is healthy, it's disturbing. We might love them now, but when Gen Zers are grown up, will we put them on the backburner and just love the new crop of cuties?

Answer 1

I'm also against the death penalty.  I worry about the possibility of killing an innocent person.  I also take account of what Amnesty has to say on the matter: it's a form of torture.

I don't know whether generation Z are the most spoiled ever.  When I was their age I used to go out for hours to play in dangerous places.  Nowadays parents watch their kids like hawks.  Kids today don't have the freedom I had when I was growing up.  Computer games can never compensate for real outdoor fun.

Answer 2

Kids nowadays are like puppies or kittens:  They are cute when they are little babies.

After that they are a nuisance until they get to adulthood.

Answer 3

Every generation thinks that the kids coming after them "are the most spoiled generation ever."  I think that the current obsession with celebrity kids is a phase.  Sometimes the crae is about who is too thin, or about drug use, right now it is about pregnancies and babies.  And this too shall pass.

Answer 4

"Sacred cows"? Last I heard some American mothers were still dumping their babies in skips and garbage bins.

Answer 5

Every generation thinks the one that are following are worse than the current generation.

Every generation thinks that overpopulation will destroy the earth. Been going on for hundreds of years.

Every generation thinks the mankind is destroying the earth.

Next Ice age

Over population

Acid rain

ALAR, DTD ect

Global warming

The 16 to 25 year old always think they have all the answers.

Things never really change, you just haven't been around long enough. Everything is critical and different to you.

Answer 6

We were talking about this exact same thing ten years ago on the childfree boards. Things seem to just get worse and worse all the time. The Gen-Y'ers are getting to the age where they're learning this harsh reality. It would be interesting to see how they're handling it.

Answer 7

It's all in how you raise a child. But calling them a sacred cow will not change rather or not they are spoiled. And until you have had a child you wont know how people value their own children and other's like them.

Answer 8

What? Would you rather they just left their kids to die? As long as they teach them values I think its fine.

I noticed you said you were against the death penalty for abusing your wife. ARE YOU INSANE? Of course their should be a death penalty! It's horrible to abuse someone else.  

Answer 9

What the h**l are you rambling about? Are you calling me a spoiled brat?

Answer 10

What the h**l... that poster who said she endorses the death penalty for wife abuse then says her rationale is because abuse is unacceptable. Contradiction? State-endorsed abuse is no more justifiable than any other abuse. If it was we'd still have slavery in the states

Answer 11

Spoiling depends on the family.  Not all children are spoiled just like not all dogs are pampered.  If you get all your information from People magazine, maybe you should read something else.

Answer 12

It's a snowballing trend that started with the Baby Boomers.

Each generation grows up relatively self-centered in comparison with the previous generation, then they have kids which they treat more or less like spoiled pets, and "spoiled" takes on an even more extreme definition with each generation.

This has happened before; it culminated with the "gilded age" in the 1920s and came to a sudden stop and re-start with the Great Depression.  So, this trend will likely continue until we collectively face a major crisis that forces us all to confront reality again.

(Incidentally, I don't think it's a bad thing, necessarily.  Snowballing narcissism is shallow to be sure, but social shallowness is more or less how culture is born.  Interesting cultural elements don't develop when societies are struggling to survive; they develop when societies are full of content, idle, narcissistic individuals who try things and make things out of sheer boredom and self-fascination.)