This sounds like a very interesting ebook and I'll have to download it.
I've thought about this myself - I've wondered if indeed things are "worse" or if it all fits into today's "Child-as-God" cultish mentality. "My son/daughter is a 'good citizen' at JFK Junior High". God forbid kids who excel actually get recognized for special achievement - everyone gets a trophy!
Even though I think kids are overly coddled and deified today, I'm not sure you can pin it
all on that, though.
I think that some is just that we don't make taboos of some topics they way they were 50 years ago. Today people talk about pedophiles instead of covering over "shameful" behavior. I think that's why we
think bad things happen more today than it did before.
I've also moved from a sub-sub-urban (more urban than rural, but not really attached to a large city) township to a run-down suburb to a fairly urban area. What was safe for me as a kid probably isn't as safe where I live now. My mother never locked our house or her car doors - and I lived in the side of town that people looked down on. I would never consider that today!
But I think we have to find a balance between fear and smothering. Kids need to learn self-reliance - to find their own inner strengths! - while they're still young enough to have a "get-up-and-try-again" attitude. I'm so tired of dealing with 20-somethings at work who still expect "every kid to get a trophy". And god forbid one of those kids gets an "average" or "meets expectations" on a job review.
Sorry. This went a bit off topic, but it's very,
very timely for some personnel issues brewing in my department at work.
See this little guy here? This is what one of my co-workers looks like ... every day. Life's not fair. We expect her to work. Wah, wah, wah.