Today, childhood is increasingly going on in the spirit of competition, but it is worth considering whether excessive pressure on children helps them to succeed. Journalist Tenis Carey gives arguments against high expectations.

When in 1971 I brought home the first school marks with the comments

of the teacher, my mother was probably pleased to know that for her age her daughter “reads perfectly”. But I’m sure she did not consider it completely her merit. So why 35 years later, opening the diary of my daughter Lily, I could barely restrain the excitement? How did it happen that I, like millions of other parents, began to feel completely responsible for the success of my child?

It seems that today children’s teaching begins from the moment of their stay in the womb. While there, they should listen to classical music. From the moment of their birth, the curriculum begins: training cards until the full development of the visual apparatus, the lessons of the language of the signs before they start to speak, the navigation lessons before they begin to walk.

Sigmund Freud said that parents directly affect the development of children – at least psychological terms

Parents met too seriously suitable for education at the time of Mrs. Bennet from pride and prejudice, but then the task was to raise a child whose manners reflected parental social status. Today, the responsibilities of parents are much more multifaceted. Previously, a talented child was considered “the gift of God”. But then Sigmund Freud appeared, who stated that parents directly affect the development of children – at least psychological terms. Then the Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget expressed the idea that children go through certain stages of development and can be regarded as “little scientists”.

But the last straw for many parents was the creation of 25% of the most talented children at the end of World War II for learning. In the end, if admission to such a school guaranteed their children a cloudless future, how could such a chance miss? “How to make a child smarter?” – such a question began to ask myself an increasing number of parents. Many found the answer to him in the book “How to teach a child to read?”Written by the American physiotherapist Glenom Doman in 1963.

Based on the study of rehabilitation of children with brain damage, Doman created the theory that the child’s brain develops the fastest in the first year of life. And this, in his opinion, meant that it was necessary to actively deal with children until they reach the age of three. In addition, he stated that children are born with such a thirst for knowledge that it surpasses all other natural needs. Despite the fact that only a few scientists supported his theory, 5 million copies of the book “How to teach a child to read”, translated into 20 languages were sold in the world.

Fashion for early teaching children began to actively develop in the 1970s, but by the beginning of the 1980s, psychologists noted the increased number of children under stress. From now on, childhood was determined by three factors: anxiety, constant work on oneself and competition with other children.

Books for parents have ceased to concentrate on feeding and caring for a child. Their main topic was ways to increase the IQ of the younger generation. One of the bestsellers is “how to grow a more intelligent child?” – even promised its increase by 30 points in case of strict adherence to the advice of the author. Doman failed to create a new generation of readers, but proved that parental concern can be turned into a solid currency.