Dear LPG,

I read the post with the title ‘Parents teach your children’ on your website and it got me thinking…

Do you remember when the average family consisted of 2.4 children? I read somewhere recently that that statistic has now dropped to 1.9 children per average family. 

 I am guessing that lack of money and the cost of child-care are to blame, and even though it is quite difficult to have part of a child, this means that there are a lot more only-children around.  Having fewer offspring means that the ones we do have get more personal possessions earlier in life, and I don’t think that I am the only person who has noticed that only-children, in fact many children, are so much more self-centred these days.  They are much more focused on what ‘they’ want and how ‘they’ feel.

To me, the saddest consequence of this is that they miss out on so many life lessons that having siblings can teach.  They are much more likely than we were to go on a really nice holiday every year but are likely to spend a lot less time with their parents because of the work mums and dads have to put in so that the holiday can be afforded.  They learn really early about virtual sharing on social media at the expense of learning about sharing real toys and things.  My grandchildren are always out at some club or activity and, in my opinion don’t spend sufficient time with their families as a result.   Dinner is so often a plate of food in front of the telly, rather than a sit-down meal with the whole family, so that all the activities can be fitted into the family schedule.  

As LG said in their article, it is no wonder that the generations of adults that are now younger than forty have little time for us oldies. 

Who is to blame, the government for wanting mums to work (resulting in children being brought up in a less family orientated world); parents for indulging them too much; peer pressure which dictates that they need so many toys so early in their lives; TV for showing them what other children of their age must have?    More importantly… what can grandparents do to repair the social damage that society has done?

AL’s idea is a definite start!

 PF, Greenwich.