The modern cult of child worship.

I was recently speaking on BBC Radio Warwickshire talking about the cult of child worship, where children become the absolute centre of their parents world in an unbalanced way, compared to past generations.

From the moment babies are born – in fact, from the minute some Mums become pregnant – they obsess about every single detail of their child’s lives. They play classical music to their bumps, obsess about the minute details of their birth plans, trot from one baby group to another, from baby signing classes to baby yoga,  follow parenting methodologies like religions and spend a fortune to ensure that their  offspring are the best dressed, most stimulated, and of course most advanced in emotional development and all before they hit the grand old age of one !

This current, over-the-top approach to parenthood has produced parents obsessed with ” getting it right” & has produced the anxiety of  “Helicopter Parenting” where parents hover over their children, over protecting them from normal risks and not only steering &  nudging their experiences of life, but over controlling them whilst robbing them of real life balanced learning experiences.  There is even something known of as “Attachment Parenting” where the close physical proximity of having their child completely near them all the time is their top priority.

I often wonder whether the trend for putting children on pedestals began in the early-2000s boom time, when women started having children later in life ?

What do you think?