By MICHAEL OVERALL Staff Writer on Jul 11, 2012, at 6:00 AM Updated on 7/11 at 10:36 AM
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Children who grow up in the jungle are apparently less indulged than suburban American kids.
In the remote jungles of Peru, a 6-year-old girl goes on a leaf-gathering expedition with her tribe, which expects her to work hard like everybody else.
She sweeps the sleeping mats twice a day, fishes for her own food and cooks for herself and other members of her family, all without ever asking for help.
Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, an 8-year-old girl sits down to dinner with her family only to realize that she doesn’t have any silverware.
“How am I supposed to eat?” she wants to know.
And despite the girl knowing where to find the forks and spoons herself, her father goes to get them for her.
A recent Wall Street Journal blog reported these real-life observations from an anthropologist, suggesting that American kids are “the most indulged young people ever.”
In other words, we’re raising a bunch of brats.
The other night, my son threw a fit when I took the iPad away at bedtime.
From now on, I’ll remind him that some kids in Peru don’t even have iPads.
Do I indulge him too much? Probably.
But surely there’s a happy middle ground somewhere between catching your own food in the jungle and not getting your own fork from the kitchen.
Read the WSJ blog:
Here.
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