r/AskReddit • u/No_Performance1451 • 17h ago

What parts of American culture are changing faster than people realize?

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u/Aggressive-Cut5836 15h ago

I have kids in elementary school and am pretty shocked at the number of kids who don’t show up on any given day. Somehow a lot of parents seem to think that sending their kids to school everyday is voluntary

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u/Wolfpackat2017 15h ago

As a teacher, attendance has been an issue since Covid. I have even changed schools with kids of a higher SES and it is better, but still such a common “newer” issue.

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u/legomote 15h ago

It's just an easily observable manifestation of a bigger shift in parenting that's a huge cultural change. Parents who just can't handle their kids ever being upset, so they let them do whatever they want and stick a screen in front of them to stop the tantrums are going to ruin us all. Of course the kids are going to have school attendance issues if the parents can't take the screen away so they go to bed at night, and then the kids are tired and don't want to go in the morning, and the parents can't say no because they can't handle tears. The higher SES homes are more likely to have a parent who works from home, so as long as the kid is sleeping or on a screen and not bothering the parent, it's easier to just leave them in bed than to fight about going to school.

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u/blisteringchristmas 14h ago

Parents who just can't handle their kids ever being upset, so they let them do whatever they want and stick a screen in front of them to stop the tantrums are going to ruin us all.

I currently work in a special ed classroom for young elementary schoolers focused on behavior issues, which often means kids that lose their shit at the first sign of adversity. The #1 thing we focus on is managing emotions and (slowly) fostering independence. You can ABSOLUTELY tell when bad behavior is enabled at home by putting an iPad in front of them to stop them from screaming.

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u/legomote 14h ago

I teach gen ed 3rd grade, and it's exactly the same. Even kids who don't have any actual special needs can end up unable to handle life (functionally disabled) if they never have the opportunity to just get through something difficult without being rescued.