Netizen asks ‘is it true that kids are harder to take care nowadays compared to gen x/y when they were kids?’

SINGAPORE — A local Reddit user commented that he had heard from his friends that it was difficult to feed their children, “like they literally have to beg them to eat or cooperate with anything at all.”

u/grampa55 went on to wonder in a post on r/askSingapore on Monday (Feb 6) if it’s true “that kids are really harder to take care (of) nowadays? If yes, what could be the reason behind (it)?” writing that he had heard “elder folks saying their kids dare not behave the same way as their grandchildren do.”

A lively discussion followed, with many Reddit users commenting on their opinions on being a parent today versus being one in the years gone by.

One answer that got a lot of upvotes had the netizen saying that parenting style has changed nowadays and not children per se. 

“I think the kids are the same what changed is parenting. Older gen probably view new age parenting where you ask kids nicely to do things as ‘begging’ and prefer the beating method. Of course kids don’t dare to misbehave (at least in front of you) if you beat them.”

“It’s more like parents of current generation did not want to repeat mistakes of older generation and lead with their own style,” another agreed.

One Reddit user appeared to hold technology responsible for at least some parenting issues.

“Only hard if you don’t use the smartphone or tablet as a babysitter, let them be consoomed (sic) by big tech algorithm,” he wrote.

Another wrote that expectations are much higher now than they were in earlier generations.

“Yes, because expectations and recommendations are much higher. Starting from birth, must try your best to breastfeed, must beware of SIDS so cannot let the baby sleep in the sarong or swing, must do tummy time, must do enriching activities with the baby, must avoid screens before 1.5 or is it 2, etc etc. Then there are such high expectations for entering Primary 1 and then in school.

And meanwhile, most kids are in dual-income families so the mom especially has so much to juggle.

Gone are the days when the neighbourhood kids hang out in one big gang with big ones caring for the little ones, play outside all afternoon until mom finished cooking dinner.”

Speaking of old-school parenting, here’s one example you may want to read about that reflects exactly that. /TISG

‘This is called parenting’: Netizens slam person who took a video of a mum smacking toddler for ‘almost 30 mins’ at Hougang pool