Hypercompetitive parents -- better or worse for children?

[lenish]

"Dropping the bomb that one's kid goes to Harvard can deaden conversation among hypercompetitive parents." "Childhood is being radically transformed right before our very eyes, contends Steven Mintz, professor of history at the University of Houston and author of Huck's Raft: A History of American Childhood. As he sees it, children are now extensions of their parents' sense of self in a way that is new and unprecedented. "More than in the past, children are viewed as a project by perfectionist parents. Today's parents are imposing on their kids a violence of raised expectations. They are using their children for their own needs. We've decreased the threat of physical violence but increased the psychological violence."

more:

http://www.psychologytoday.com/collections/201201/the-perfect-family/turning-tots-trophies