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With each passing year, the world seems to change even more. Blink and you may miss something. Certain things, however, are timeless, like the feelings that come from being a parent.
Whether it was centuries ago or today, certain things about parenting remain the same, like worrying about whether your newborn is breathing at night, or if your child is going to grow up healthy and will have greater opportunities than you did. Other things about parenting have changed drastically, though.
Let’s take a look at how parenting today is different that it was 50 years ago.
World of fear
In 1969, 41 percent of grade-school children walked or rode their bikes to school. By 2001, only 13 percent of kids in grade school walked or rode bikes to their schools, according to Time.
Studies show that today’s parents — having constant access to news and media — believe the world is a more dangerous place than when they were kids. As a result, it’s common practice to be more protective of their children, even if it means restricting them from doing things that may have been normal when they were growing up.
Screen time
This may be one of the starkest differences from 50 years ago. Today’s world of touch screens presents limitless opportunities — and challenges — for children and their parents.
On the one hand, you may have a proud parent moment when your baby figures out how to unlock a smartphone or tablet or fares well in an educational app. On the other hand, children tend to want more and more when it comes to screen time, making it difficult or uncomfortable for parents to set and enforce limitations.
To read the full article at KSL, click here.
