Lies Parents Tell Kids

Jean Twenge knew her daughter was too old for a pacifier but liked the comfort it provided — not only for her 3-year-old, but also for Mom and Dad. Twenge, a psychology professor at San Diego University and co-author of The Narcissism Epidemic — Living in the Age of Entitlement, knew it wouldn't be easy for her to part with the pacifier. So she did what many other modern parents have done and enlisted the Binky Fairy to take her child's pacifiers and (wink, wink) give them to babies who need them.


Pacifiers aren't all bad. Sucking calms and soothes babies. Plus, studies show a link between pacifier use during sleep and a reduced risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). But when toddlers can give a full report of their day with a pacifier clenched between their teeth, it's time to rethink the binky. In Twenge's case, a few months after her daughter's third birthday, the fairy came late at night and left a few gifts and a note thanking her for helping the babies. "The look on her face when I read the note was a mixture of pride and fear," says Twenge. Blessedly absent was any anger toward Mommy.


Many parents today are looking for a buffer in the binky battle. And they could fill a bookshelf with pacifier-purging aids: The Binky Fairy, The Paci Fairy, The Binky Ba-ba Fairy, Goodbye Binky — the Binky Fairy Story.


In earlier generations, the Binky Fairy idea might not have flown. Parents likely just took the plug away, and that was that. "Kids wanted to make their parents happy, but today's parents want to make the children happy," says Twenge. Parents who let their kids hang on to pacifiers as long as they want tend to follow the permissive parenting style, which is linked to children growing up to be more narcissistic than their peers, according to Twenge.


http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2005681,00.html

"Kids wanted to make their parents happy, but today's parents want to make the children happy,"


Couldn't have said it better myself. You know who you are. Stop coddling your kids!

We all try to make *each other* happy!