Jo Frost gave the side-eye to an entire generation of parents, saying they were “disabling” their children.
The British TV personality picked on parents who choose convenience, saying their modern child-raising tactics were raising children who are less capable than ever.
“I’m going to say something that might make you uncomfortable, so sit tight,” the 55-year-old said in a Facebook video.
Jo Frost gave the side-eye to an entire generation of parents, saying they were “disabling” their children
Image credits: jofrost
Frost attempted to reinforce an important guideline through her recent social media video: parents are not meant to do everything for their children but teach them how to do things themselves.
“We are slowly disabling our children,” she said in the video that racked up millions of views.
“And I don’t say that lightly.”
Image credits: jofrost
From her experience of working with families every day, the Supernanny star said she’s been noticing a growing pattern where children are “capable” but not being “taught.”
“We’re keeping children in strollers who should be walking, climbing, and building strength,” she said.
“We’ve got four-year-olds still using dummies (pacifiers) when they were only ever meant to be a short-term aid,” she continued.
Image credits: kaboompics/pexels (not an actual photo)
Her list continued, with: “Seven-year-olds who can’t brush their teeth properly without an electric toothbrush.”
“Eight-year-olds who can’t sit at a table and use a knife and fork. Nine-year-olds who don’t understand bathroom hygiene.”
“I find myself asking, when did we stop teaching these life skills?” she disheartenedly asked.
Image credits: Yan Krukau/pexels (not an actual photo)
Frost said it’s understandable why parents, with their busy lifestyles today, might resort to the easier, quicker options to tackle problems. But the key was being intentional about helping children be “capable.”
“I understand modern life is busy, but this isn’t about time; it’s about intention,” she said.
“Because every time we step in and do it for them or avoid teaching because it’s slower, messier, or inconvenient, we take away an opportunity for them to become capable, and children want to feel capable.”
Image credits: Tima Miroshnichenko/pexels (not an actual photo)
Frost pointed out that children don’t become “capable” by watching adults do everything for them. They need opportunities to be taught, to practice, and to repeat.
It could start with simple things, like teaching children how to ride bikes and weaning them off habits like using pacifiers when they no longer need them, the parenting expert said.
“We guide, we repeat, we expect. Not perfectly, consistently,” she said. “Because independence isn’t something that just happens instantaneously. It’s taught parents, and if we don’t teach it, we can’t be surprised when it’s missing.”
Image credits: jofrost
Viewers had loud opinions about Frost’s take on modern parenting, saying: “Today’s young parents are just plain LAZIER. They both work, come home, cook, and feel that they are too tired to be bothered.”
Another claimed the increased screen time for kids was the problem, saying, “Parents are not present with their children. Hate watching families who don’t communicate because they are focused on their phones, iPads, etc.”
Teachers and professionals who work with children every day also echoed similar concerns.
“Having worked as a teacher and headteacher I could not agree more,” one said. “This situation has been deteriorating for years.”
One teacher said they had been “seeing so much learnt helplessness” in recent years.
Another wrote, “Daily living skills like opening a jar, cleaning after yourself, shoe laces, even holding a pencil, are slowly diminishing in children that are very quickly becoming the next generation of adults.”
In recent years, teachers have noticed a trend among lockdown babies, who seem to lack “school readiness” by the time they start kindergarten.
They even noticed that children were sitting in school classrooms wearing diapers.
Image credits: Gustavo Fring/pexels (not an actual photo)
In 2023, reports revealed that school teachers in Switzerland have been noticing even 11-year-old children wearing diapers.
“Kids are going to school as early as 4 years old now, so yeah, you might actually find some still in diapers,” Dagmar Rosler, head of the Swiss Federation of Teachers at the time, told the Swiss newspaper 20 Minuten.
“When 11-year-olds come to school in diapers, that’s a worrying trend.”
Image credits: Helena Lopes/pexels (not an actual photo)
The UK charity Kindred said in a 2024 report that 90% of teachers from their survey have at least one child in their class still in diapers, and half the teachers had to dedicate time to dealing with their students’ personal hygiene issues instead of actually focusing on lessons.
“Research shows that parents and carers are generally potty training too late and that the best age to stop using nappies altogether is somewhere between 18-30 months,” expert potty consultant Rebecca Mottram from Little Bunny Bear previously told Metro.
When it comes to riding bikes, numbers reveal that the habit has dwindled among children in the US over the years.
An average of 20.5 million children ages 7 to 17 hopped on a bike six or more times a year in the 1990s, according to the sports-equipment trade group National Sporting Goods Association.
That number dropped to about 10.9 million in 2023.
“Far too many secondary school children who still can’t tell the time,” one commenter wrote online
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