Citation

Gallagher JM, Coché J. Early Child Res. Q. 1987; 2(3): 203-210.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1987, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/0885-2006(87)90030-5

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Demographic changes regarding ages of parents, divorce rates, the number of dual career couples, and the impact of maternal development, have produced a generation of parents who have less time to spend with their children, and higher anxiety in relation to themselves and their offspring. Parents whose children are in hothousing may overstructure their toddlers' learning because of their own inadequacy and guilt. Furthermore, the messages inadvertently conveyed to children in hothousing tend to de-personalize children into representations of ideals created by a competitive society. Children who spend inadequate time in an intimate parent-child relationship may have great achievement capacity, but feel a sense of emptiness. Hothousing has shifted preschool curriculum to an overemphasis on "readiness" training for early reading and a concomitant reduction in time for play. Researchers of infancy must carefully communicate their findings and caution against simplistic applications. Teachers must responsibly evaluate research findings and communicate them to parents, who must then protect their children against the dangers of hothousing.