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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It has everything to do with lazy helicopter parenting.

Easier to do for them than to teach/expect them how to do it on their own.

Easier to justify and excuse poor behaviors than spend the time on expectations and follow-thru when expectations are not met.

Easier to baby/friend them than truly parent them. Easier to keep them home and justify it’s safer to not go to park on their own - and then give them a screen to sit in front of instead.

This leads to decrease autonomy, lack of street smarts, low confidence, poor social skills, terrible executive functioning, and no patience or attention to anything around them. All of  this leads to lack of empathy, abnormal social behaviors, high anxiety, and depression. [/quote]

Thanks Janet.

You sound very judgy and overbearing, which would make me feel very sad if I was your kid.

The point of the article is that there is not one black and white reason that explains everything for this wide spread phenom of teenage depression.

Modern parenting is part of it for sure but not all of it - clearly the rural poster where the other 3 factors were not an issue laid the blame at the feet of prevalence of social media. Clearly, in DMV social pressures are part of the problem. In some areas such as West Virginia, opioid and other addictions play major role.

[b]Also there is no one perfect way of parenting teens. Anyone with more than one child knows what works for one may not work for another. Further there is competing advice to parents and people have to figure out for themselves what works for their families. [/b]

It is helpful to know we are not alone and that there are different parenting strategies that might help. Harshly judging all parents of teens as misguided is not helping anyone.

[/quote]

DP. This kind of thinking, while maybe true, is at the heart of so much general anxiety in our culture, though. The internet has made everyone think they’re an expert, that they’ve stumbled upon an article that explains everything, that they’ve diagnosed themselves or their kids, that they’ve found a way to live their truth. But this illusion of control and understanding has completely undermined the various institutions that used to be the bulwarks of a polite, functioning society.

Personally, hearing about yet another “parenting strategy” doesn’t make me feel better. Somehow humans got along for millennia without consciously considering these things.[/quote]

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