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I really dislike how American behavior is always equated with western. The US is just one part of the west. I think many of us in Europe have the exact same vie

I really dislike how American behavior is always equated with western. The US is just one part of the west. I think many of us in Europe have the exact same view on Americans and how they raise their kids. I am a Norwegian married to an American and I got to say American parenting seems claustrophobic and paranoid to me. American kids are under tight and organized control all the time. They got their playdates, piano playing, soccer practice, etc. Their parents are driving them everywhere to all sorts of activities. These kids never seem to have a life of their own. There are of course huge differences in Europe in how kids are raised. But at least in Norway kids tend to allowed to roam a lot more freely. It is more normal to walk to school yourself or be outside by yourself. Parents tend to not arrange playdates. They go over to each others house themselves. And a lot more of their day isn't organized in any way. I saw this when studying at college in the US. American college students were a lot more immature than European college students IMHO. They seemed unaccustomed to having this much freedom, and not having parents looking the over the shoulder all the time. American college also felt very nanny like. A lot of rules and regulations as if you are still a child. It is rather ironic that in the land of individualism and freedom, there is so much control and regulation on peoples lives. I think Americans have mistaken economic freedom for personal freedom.

Grishnakh 10y ago
It wasn't always like that here in the US. When I was young, I walked to school by myself, rode my bike for miles around the surrounding town and area, and had a lot of time to myself as I was raised by a single mother. The current trend of "helicopter parenting" didn't really exist back in the 70s and 80s as far as I can remember, and people certainly didn't get into legal trouble when their kids ran around outside unsupervised like they do now. The things you complain about seem to me to be recent changes, within the last 20 years. I had piano practice and soccer practice, and had to get driven to them because they were much too far to walk to and our public transit sucked back then just like it does now, but not "play dates" and zero unsupervised time. It was basically like you describe for current-day Norway. I have no idea where we went off the rails in this country with regard to child-raising.
3131s 10y ago
> I really dislike how American behavior is always equated with western. Sorry about that. I tend to lump Westerners together because as a whole they do have so much more in common with each other than they do with Cambodians, and I've been here for a while now and don't really socialize with many non-Cambodians. Except for speaking in English typically with my wife (who is Cambodian) I speak more in Khmer than I do English, so it's pretty easy for me to get into the mentality of grouping all Westerners together unfairly (especially because here they tend to share other traits like being tourists, teachers, or NGO workers). But, my bad! I realize that the hover-parenting phenomenon is far, far worse in the US than in Europe. And as you said the college experience in the US does involve a lot of hovering and nannying, hence my repeated near expulsion! Long story short, but the sole reason I was not expelled involved successfully hiding under a bed. > It is rather ironic that in the land of individualism and freedom, there is so much control and regulation on peoples lives. I think Americans have mistaken economic freedom for personal freedom. Americans are just delusional and most have no conception of what freedom really is. In my home state they can't even buy a beer on a Sunday, to give a sort of trivial but emblematic example. Too much propaganda rots the brain :)

Grishnakh 10y ago

It wasn't always like that here in the US. When I was young, I walked to school by myself, rode my bike for miles around the surrounding town and area, and had a lot of time to myself as I was raised by a single mother. The current trend of "helicopter parenting" didn't really exist back in the 70s and 80s as far as I can remember, and people certainly didn't get into legal trouble when their kids ran around outside unsupervised like they do now. The things you complain about seem to me to be recent changes, within the last 20 years. I had piano practice and soccer practice, and had to get driven to them because they were much too far to walk to and our public transit sucked back then just like it does now, but not "play dates" and zero unsupervised time. It was basically like you describe for current-day Norway. I have no idea where we went off the rails in this country with regard to child-raising.

3131s 10y ago

> I really dislike how American behavior is always equated with western. Sorry about that. I tend to lump Westerners together because as a whole they do have so much more in common with each other than they do with Cambodians, and I've been here for a while now and don't really socialize with many non-Cambodians. Except for speaking in English typically with my wife (who is Cambodian) I speak more in Khmer than I do English, so it's pretty easy for me to get into the mentality of grouping all Westerners together unfairly (especially because here they tend to share other traits like being tourists, teachers, or NGO workers). But, my bad! I realize that the hover-parenting phenomenon is far, far worse in the US than in Europe. And as you said the college experience in the US does involve a lot of hovering and nannying, hence my repeated near expulsion! Long story short, but the sole reason I was not expelled involved successfully hiding under a bed. > It is rather ironic that in the land of individualism and freedom, there is so much control and regulation on peoples lives. I think Americans have mistaken economic freedom for personal freedom. Americans are just delusional and most have no conception of what freedom really is. In my home state they can't even buy a beer on a Sunday, to give a sort of trivial but emblematic example. Too much propaganda rots the brain :)