Kristyn Lloyd Ed 304

"The Hurried Child"

2 important quotes per chapter

PART I- OUR HURRIED CHILDREN

Chap 1: Our Hurried Children

 “What is most troubling about our embrace of the notion of child competence is
that it reflects our tendency to accept the increasing and unrelenting stresses on
todays young people as “normal” and our willingness to rationalize them as
actually beneficial for children! Although this is an understandable human
tendency, it adds to the burden of stress children are already experiencing.” (Pg
xxix)
 “Children need time to grow, to learn, and to develop. To treat them differently
from adults is not to discriminate against them but rather to recognize their
special estate.” (Pg 21)

Chap 2: The Dynamics of Hurrying: Parents

 "Basically, people under stress are not only self-centered, they also lack energy
for dealing with issues apart from themselves." (Pg 28)
 "Working women are less likely to have extended family networks to rely upon
for childcare and are likely to be less concerned with the intellectual stimulation
their children are receiving as with their physical care and protection. Finding
quality child-care workers and facilities, particularly for infants and young
children, is a constant effort and constant stress." (Pg 42)

Chap 3: The Dynamics of Hurrying: Schools

 "School systems are often top-heavy administratively and excessively
hierarchical and authoritarian. The creativity and innovation of teachers is
deadened by overly close ties to the uniformity of educational publishing and
testing." (Pg 49)
 "Young children believe that adults are all-knowing and all-wise. When we
confront them with tasks for which they are not ready- such as tests, workbooks,
and homework- these children blame themselves for failure. 'If this all-wise, all-
knowing person tells me I should be able to do this and I can't, there must be
something wrong with me." (Pg 57)

Chap 4: The Dynamics of Hurrying: The Media

 “Perhaps more important, music directed at young people today is aimed not so
much at hurrying into adulthood as it is providing an escape from pressures to
grow up fast.” (Pg 97)
 “Nonetheless, rock music groups will still be used by young people as markers of
their growing maturity, and as means of staying young in a world that would
make them old too soon.” (Pg 100)

Chap 5: The Dynamics of Hurrying: Lapware, Brain Research, and the Internet
Kristyn Lloyd Ed 304

 “Loving care provides the baby’s brain with the right kind of stimulation.
Neglecting a baby can produce brain wave patterns that dampen happy feelings.”
(Pg 111)
 “Toddlers who insist on feeding themselves and who teach themselves to walk
and to talk certainly do no need a computer program to discover that they have
control over their own learning.” (Pg 107)

PART II- HURRIED CHILDREN: STRESSED CHILDREN

Chap 6: Growing Up Slowly

 “Learning rules also makes it possible for children to play games that
presuppose complex rules and to create their own games and rules. One of the
dangers of organized team sports for this age group is that they no longer have
the opportunity to create their own games and rules and thus to acquire a
healthy sense of the reality of rules.” (Pg 127)
 “As we know it, growth occurs in a series of stages related to age. Each stage
brings dramatic changes in intellectual capacity, in emotional attachments, and
in social relations…. When children are forced to grow up fast, important
achievements are skipped or bypassed, which can give rise to serious problems
later.” (Pg 140)

Chap 7: Learning to Be Social

 “At least initially, the child’s discovery of physical reality is immediate- it is
derived directly from contact with physical objects and events. The child’s
discovery of social reality, however, is always mediated by parents and
caretakers.” (Pg 145)
 “What seems to happen in adolescence is that the freedom-responsibility
contract becomes one between the child and society, as well as one between
parents and offspring. Thus the freedom-responsibility contract prepares the
young person to become a member of the larger community.” (Pg 148)

Chap 8: Hurried Children: Stressed Children

 “We tend to organize our lives in keeping with our relative energy levels.” (Pg
165)
 “This is the real loss of innocence: losing the implicit belief that the world is a
good and stable place to live- that the family, the child’s basic source of serenity,
will always be there.” (Pg 173)

Chap 9: How Children React to Stress

 “Many children acquire learned helplessness at school when they are confronted
with learning tasks that are too difficult for their level of ability.” (Pg 197)
 “Emotional distress and behavioral disturbance can no longer be traced to
conflict alone. Today, disturbed children have to be seen, evaluated, and helped
within the context of an overwhelmingly stressful environment.” (Pg 203)
Kristyn Lloyd Ed 304

Chap 10: Helping Hurried Children

 “When hurrying reflects cultural values like being punctual, then urging children
to be on time has social justification. But the abuse of hurrying harms children.”
(Pg 205)
 “Schools need to recognize that children also work better, learn better, and yes,
grow better, if time spent in social adaption-learning the basics- is alternated
with time periods given over to avenues for self expression.” (Pg 219)