I’m realizing more and more how much fear affects everything we do especially parenting. Mothers struggle with this more than fathers and I think that’s one reason I envy them.
We fear almost every choice we make all the time. We’re always afraid of something terrible happening to our children, afraid to damage them psychologically, afraid they won’t feel loved, afraid they won’t keep up with their peers, afraid they’ll feel neglected. We fear feeding them incorrectly or letting them play outside in the sun or cold too long. We fear them failing at something or being made fun of by other kids. We fear that we don’t spend enough time with them, hold them enough, hold them too much. We fear we discipline too strongly or not strongly enough. I could go on.
Fear seems inherent to our American culture. Why is that do you think?
For a while now I’ve wanted to read up on childhood and parenting throughout history and in other cultures. I dove (or is it dived?) into Huck’s Raft and it’s been interesting but dense. I find comfort in learning how parents before us brought up their children with much stricter or looser standards and under so much less pressure to get everything right.
Anyway, I’m still on that mission but for now I wanted to share these links with you all because they’re fascinating and I want more.
How Cultures Around the World Think About Parenting
Global Parenting Habits that Haven’t Caught on in the US
Thanks for this post. I think there’s something to be said about culture, too–and being in it. I fall on the neglect side of not helicoptering, and we’re totally French about food and meals, but some things can’t be adopted by individual families without the support from everyone around them. (Children walking to a grocery store or library alone)