On ‘Boomer parenting’

I am quoted in an interesting article by Genevieve Roberts for the i newspaper on 24 April, titled ‘I parented like a Boomer for a week – the kids ate better and played more’:

‘… I tell Dr Jennie Bristow, author and leading sociologist on generational parenting about my experiment. She says the famous Dr Spock book Baby and Child Care marked the beginning of child-centred parenting and encouraged parents to trust their instincts, but it was only in the 1990s when the “culture of parenting” emerged. The verb “to parent” emerged and turned it into a task. “This coincides with women’s role in the workplace becoming more normalised, to the point where there is an expectation you should be working and raising children – and feeling like you’re failing at both.

‘“Tony Blair used to go on about this, saying it is the most important job in the world, which I found so objectionable because actually, he was Prime Minister: that is more important as a job. And parenting isn’t a job. It’s part of life. By treating it like it’s a job, it detaches people from their instincts and their relationships with their kids, so we don’t feel comfortable having an informal, relaxed family life.”

‘It’s fascinating – and so true: today’s parents, with so much information and high expectations, frequently seem to share parental guilt and a fear we might be getting it wrong. “This culture of self-recrimination is very bad for kids.”…’