http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21641004

I've read that a few times and I'm still not really sure what she's saying, or even what age group she's talking about. If any at all!

I've seen the evidence and consequences of this "overparenting".

You have teens and young adults who can't manage to look after themselves when they have coughs and colds.
I've seen mothers march in their teen/young adult sons for either simple things or personal things eg groin rash.
I've seen teenagers develop anxiety, depression, eating disorders etc as a result or way of coping with overpushy parents. The kids are under so much parental pressure that they crack if they get a single B amongst a string of grade As. Instead of rewarding the kid for their effort and hard work, they are scolded.

Growing up, these same kids become "parents" but they cannot manage their kids properly because they've neer looked after the children themselves. Quite often they're accompanied by the pushy parent!

You can see everywhere with the school run. When I was at school we all had to get to the bus stop for the bus, or walk to school. Now the kids are taken to school by the parents and so clog up the roads, especially near schools.

Don't get me started on that! On the way to work there's a school. The road is a 40mph single carriageway and very narrow. Parents will park on the side to drop kids off. This narrows the road and means cars in either direction have to drive a little off the road which IMO is unacceptable. Granted it's essentially a country road but there are pavements for half a mile at least.

Then how many parents actually let their kids out to play? Most sit in front of a TV most of the time.

I was thinking the other day about how when I was around ten or eleven in the late eighties I used to go out on my bike and visit my mate about 5 miles away over country roads and how much I loved it. I would be away for about four or five hours and never phoned when i got there or before i left nor was expected to.

Basically, I left on my bike at around ten and got back at around three or four with no communication with my parents. There's no way I'd let my kid do that. I tell myself it's because there's so much more traffic now, but I do wonder if it's actually because I've become influenced by the current mentality.

I don't doubt my parents weren't a bit worried by the way, I just expect they accepted it as part of the worry of having kids.

I think that the number of cars is higher as is the population. If you look at some TV episodes from the sixties you will see very empty roads. Though haven't you considered teaching your kids the highway code? Then there are buses and walking. I do appreciate the risks cycling but if you live in an area with primarily houses then you will find that the traffic peaks at rush hour and might be dead outside those hours. I went by my old home a few months ago. The main road was very busy but as it was almost a commuter town the side roads were empty and it would have easily been possible for kids to walk to school, like I did when I was younger.

Some of my students today hadn't included a bibliography on their essays, so I dragged them down to the library.
I asked on which genre they were writing about, handed them a book relevant to it and told them to find a passage to reference.
I was then told that it was no use as "there aren't any pictures in it."

Yes, babied, infantilised, call it what you will.

Yeah, thing is, I was knocked down by a car. When I was 33. It can happen to anyone, any day. What are parents going to do, give them a lift everywhere until the kids retire or the parents die? Kids have to learn to cope with the world around them. Some of those lessons will be harsh but they are all necessary. Preventing that from happening is bad parenting. You're supposed to equip your kids with the skills they need to survive the rest of their lives, not just keep them alive for the twelve or so years they actually bother to listen to you.

Well I have been run over more than a dozen times. It is because of the amnesia. I have no procedural memory to help, so my solution is to avoid going out. Though I do agree with you.


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