Modern, urban parents in 2010 are damaging their children more than prehistoric man did, according to Professor Darcia Narvaez from the University of Notre Dame, Indiana. Professor Narvaez says that today’s mothers and fathers are too preoccupied with their careers, blackberry addictions, and TV programmes to give their children the nurturing they require. The situation is made worse by modern child care accessories such as car seats and prams, in which parents can imprison their infants and keep them safely out of the way.
Since the cave people did not have modern devices such as baby walkers, they spent more time with their children, cuddling them, handling them and talking to them. They breastfed their children for years as formula milk was not available, nor did they allow them to cry themselves to sleep. This calm, one to one contact is essential in raising children who are concerned about the world and others. Infants deprived of emotional nourishment, grow up to be self-centred and less caring because they do not learn to have compassion for others. Modern city flats makes the situation even worse as children are kept inside watching TV instead of being out in fresh air, making new friends with kids in the street. Today’s children grow up isolated and anti-social and have more psychological problems than children in the past.
Maybe the human race would not have evolved so much if cave children were as anti social and self-centred as teenagers today. Maybe they would not have worked hard and put their lives in danger to unselfishly help mankind to evolve.
So a recommendation to parents today from Jesse Jackson, a civil rights activist, is that your children need your presence more than presents.
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