Newstalk Breakfast spoke with Lead Researcher and In-House Editor for ‘The Coddling of the American Mind’ Pamela Paresky about the damage of mollycoddling children.

Generation Z's Mental Health

Statistics show that children born after 1994 are suffering from much higher rates of anxiety and depression than previous generations.

Are Parents to Blame?

Today’s generation of parents have fallen into a trap of believing that their children need their protection.

“If you think about how this generation of parents was raised, we did not have that level of protection ourselves, yet we turned out with a lower level of depression and anxiety". Pamela Paresky told Newstalk Breakfast.

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Changing Times

While technology provides its own safety benefits in terms of knowing where a child is, exposure to negative news is now unavoidable, and certain stories can become engrained in parent’s minds.

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Previous generations had fewer means of hearing negative stories, which often made it easier for them to allow their child to stand on their own two feet.

“That Is Where We Start to Make Mistakes”

Paresky spoke about the fact that today, parents can get to the point where they are unwilling to compromise, as their fears of their children being harmed outweigh any positives of their child gaining independence.

How to Help Your Child

One of the best things you can do for your child is to equip them with coping tools.

Paresky touched on the point that parents today give their children the impression that they must be happy all the time, and in turn are not teaching them how to deal with being upset or angry.

“The more that you give your child the sense that they are anti-fragile and capable the happier they will be by the time they reach University,” Paresky advised.

Listen to the full interview below: