美国人对育儿的痴迷 [美国媒体]

The American Obsession With Parenting

美国人对育儿的痴迷



Parents of all income and education levels are spending more time promoting their kids’ development—yet socioeconomic gaps in childrearing behavior are growing.

各个收入水平和教育程度的父母都花更多时间在孩子的成长上，然而儿童养育中的社会经济差距正愈演愈烈。

The word “parent” wasn’t used as a verb until a few decades ago. In fact, some experts argue it was only in the 1990s that the idea of “parenting” really became a full-fledged “thing.” By that time, at least for members of the middle class, being a parent didn’t just mean serving as an authority figure and a source of sustenance and support for a child—it meant molding that child’s life, flooding her with opportunity so she could have a competitive edge in the long-term, and enriching her with all kinds of constructive experiences. “Raising children,” my colleague Ann Hulbert wrote in her 2004 book Raising America, “has rated very near to sex—and to success—as an American fixation.”

直到几十年前开始，parent（父母）这个词还不当动词用。实际上，有些专家认为直到90年代，“parenting”（养育）观念才正式形成。当时，至少对于中产阶级来说，为人父母并不意味着成为一个权威的人物，也不意味着为孩子提供生计和支持——而是意味着塑造孩子的生命，给孩子提供多多的机会，这样孩子才具备长远的竞争力，并给孩子提供各种各样建设性的经历。我的同事Ann Hulbert 在她2014年出版的《养育美国》一书写道：“美国人对养育孩子的痴迷都快接近对性和成功的痴迷了。”

That fixation, at its most extreme, can have dire consequences—but it’s hard to deny that basic parenting practices benefit children. Putting your 3-year-old in Kumon might be overdoing it. But reading her a few pages of Dr. Seuss before she goes to sleep? A simple, low-key way to stimulate her brain and help her thrive as a little human. Experts tend to agree that activities such as a few minutes of reading or telling stories daily, going over letters and numbers several times a week, and occasional trips to the zoo are key to promoting a young child’s development and preparing her academically.

这种痴迷在极端情况下可能会引发可怕的后果，但不可否认的是基本的养育行为还是有益于孩子的。将3岁的孩子送到公文学校里可能有点过了。但是在睡前给孩子读几页苏斯博士的书籍呢？这种简单低调的做法有利于刺激孩子的大脑并帮助孩子茁壮成长。专家认为每天几分钟的阅读或者讲故事，一周几次的看看字母和数字，偶尔去去动物园，这些都有助于孩童的发展和学前的准备。

Parenting Activities That Saw Growing Income-Based Gaps (1988-2012)



Parenting Activities That Saw a Marked Increase Among Those at the Median Income Level (1988-2012)




Nycticorax ? 4 hours ago 
Part of the culture of rugged individualism, self help, and that everything is optimizable.

这是顽强的个人主义、自助以及任何事物都可优化的文化的一部分内容。

kmihindu  @Nycticorax ? an hour ago
I find it sad that parenting is viewed as a winner take all competition. Why can parents just love, care for and enjoy their children without making it a competition with other parents?

我觉得可悲的是养育被看成了一种赢家通吃的竞争。为什么父母不能只是爱护关心孩子以及享受和孩子在一起的日子，而非得和其他父母竞争呢。

Shabby Road ? 5 hours ago 
WHAT "American obsession with parenting"?
All I've seen over the past thirty years is an American obsession with EVADING all parental responsibility, in favor of extending parents' participation in juvenile and puerile behavior for as long as possible, so enamored of their own fleeting youth were they.

什么是“美国人痴迷于养育“？
过去30年来我所看到就只是美国人不履行自己的养育义务，只知道把自己的孩子扔给父母去管，他们太迷恋于自己那飞逝的青春了。

blackylawless ? an hour ago
American intentionality is fraught and utterly a failure in so many areas, making a mess of themselves, their nation, and the world. The USA is all about failure.

美国的意向性是有问题的，在很多方面都是个失败，把自己和国家以及世界搞得一团糟。美国就是一个失败。

hoopingandscooping  @blackylawless ? 16 minutes ago
Is that what they're telling you in Omsk.

这就是你在鄂木斯克（苏联城市）所接受的信息吗。

Will Yum ? an hour ago
"The beauty of those kinds of parenting activities is that they don’t cost much, if any, money. The problem is that low-income parents still lag behind their more affluent peers when it comes to engaging in those behaviors. Economically disadvantaged parents, research shows, still spend far less time than their middle-class counterparts participating in developmentally stimulating activities with their children."
This should be the left's "Manhattan Project," but working to fix the gap doesn't fit the "oppressed/ oppressors" template.

“这类养育行为的美好之处在于不用花太多钱。问题在于低收入父母在养育行为上依然落后于高收入父母。调查表明，在参与有利于孩子发育的活动上，低收入父母花的时间比高收入父母少。”
这应该是左翼的“曼哈顿计划”，但是致力于解决这个差距并不符合“被压迫者和压迫者”模板。

Will Yum ? an hour ago
Classic way of putting a victimization take on the very basics of parenting. Reading to one's child is available to every income group.
Well-raised children do indeed get a head start from birth to age 4 that is probably insurmountable. We should work to ensure that all children are well-raised.

基本的养育其实谁都可以做到，比如陪孩子阅读，不论收入多少的家庭都是可以办到的。
从出生到4岁这个阶段，如果精心养育，确实可以让孩子获得先行的优势，而这种优势可能是不可逾越的。所以我们应该努力的确保所有孩子都获得精心养育。

DisruptiveChanges ? 3 hours ago
Yep, too bad that some kids may only end up as skilled tradesmen with no college debt. Yep, too bad that many that were pushed for college don't belong there or are pursuing useless degrees.

是吖，糟糕的是有些孩子最终可能变成熟练的商人而不用负担大学债务。是吖，糟糕的是很多孩子被推进本不属于自己的大学或者追逐那没用的文凭。

Innes Mizner ? 8 hours ago
There was a New Zealand study today that said how you are at 3 determines your whole life.
Saying that, the one US parenting book I am going to buy for my nephew and new parent is 'Shut the Eff Up and go to Sleep'. I will also tell his wife that parents in Finland regularly let their babies sleep outdoors in sub-zero temperatures.

今天新西兰出炉了一个研究说什么三岁定终身。我打算给我外甥购买的一本美国养育书籍是《闭嘴睡觉》。我会对他的妻子说，在芬兰，父母经常让孩子睡在0度以下的室外。