We live in a rapidly changing world. By the time your children grow up the world will be radically different from the world we live in today. So how do you prepare your child for a world that doesn't exist as yet?
That's the subject of Future-proof Your Child: Parenting the Wired Generation
The first part of the book focuses on the changes that have taken place in the world up till now. I felt that some of these earlier chapters contained a bit too much detail about how the world had changed in the last century and wasn't really relevant to the topic of the future.
So what can you, as a parent, do to help future-proof your child?
Authors Nikki Bush and Graeme Codrington say the solution lies in "Conversations, connections and choices"
If you suspect that your children are very different from how kids were when you were young, you're right.
"They are the most watched-over generation, but also the most vulnerable. Adults now subject a typical child's day to more and more structure and supervision, with a non-stop round of parents, relatives, teachers, coaches, babysitters, au pairs, surveillance cameras and curfews. Time spent on homework and housework is up and free time is down. Unsupervised time is down to unprecedented levels. Attention spans are on the decrease at the same rate that sensory input is on the increase. A major challenge to parents, teachers and marketers today is how to capture and maintain the attention of our children."
The rest of the book goes into depth about what kids will need to be healthy, well-adjusted adults and how parents can best prepare them for this exciting new world that lies ahead.
Future-proof Your Child: Parenting the Wired Generation
provides a list of qualities and character traits that children will need in order to succeed and then provides sensible, practical and do-able suggestions that parents can use to strengthen these skills. Some of the qualities are:* Imagination
* Creativity
* Self-Confidence
* Optimism
The authors assert that
"The most important 'talent x-factors' for developing exceptional young people include teaching our children:
to break conventions
to be resilient
to learn
to know themselves
to relate to others
to think outside the box "
Going to school, studying, getting good grades, getting a degree and then getting a stable job at a company may have made sense 20 years ago, but this is fast changing. The bottom line is that you can't parent your kids the way you were parented and expect them to be well-equipped for this new world.
Of course, certain things will always stay the same. Child development is discussed in detail, as are learning styles and different types of intelligence that individuals have. There are tips on choosing the right preschool and school that will adequately prepare your child for the future.
I found the chapters on how the workplace will change in the future as well as the predictions of which industries will grow and which will decline absolutely fascinating. These chapters will be of great interest to parents of older children who are concerned with making wise career choices.
All in all, it's a fascinating and very interesting read, filled with great advice for preparing your child for tomorrow.
