Back on 8-22-05, it was reported that GPS devices were keeping track of sex offenders. Wouldn’t you know that now minors are being monitored by GPS devices. Parents can know where their son or daughter is, know how fast they’re driving, and when/if they get to class.

We can debate whether this is right or not, but I’d rather connect this to another phenomenon and expand it.

It’s really not surprising that parents are taking advantage of this new technology. This youth generation AKA Echo Boomers, Generation Y, or Millenials is "more protected".

"’Parents feel as if they’re holding onto a piece of Baccarat crystal or something that could somehow shatter at any point,’ says Levine. ‘And so parents really have a sense their kids are fragile. And parents therefore are protecting them, inflating their egos. Massaging them, fighting their battles for them.’ [60 minutes, "The Echo Boomers"]"

This can be explained by the following:

"’Because they came along at a time when we started re-valuing kids. During the ’60s and ’70s, the frontier of reproductive medicine was contraception,’ says Howe. ‘During the ’80s and beyond, it’s been fertility and scouring the world to find orphan kids that we can adopt. …The culture looked down on kids. Now it wants kids; it celebrates them.’" [Ibid]

[If children are valued so much, why is the birth rate in this country still below replacement and why is abortion still so popular? – Funky]

What will happen when each individual has to act make decisions on their own?

"’Sometimes, they don’t know what to do if they’re just left outside and you say, ‘Well, just do something by yourself for a while,” says Howe. ‘They’ll look around stunned. You know, ‘What are we supposed to do now?”" [Ibid]

It’s probably my bias, but isn’t there some worth to just being able to do what you want for a time? Can’t it be better for the family as a whole?

It’s almost as if children have become more important than family relationships, especially between parents. Without being over-scheduled, families can sit down together for meal(s). Family activities that truly get a family to interact can help fulfill everyone’s emotional and even physical needs (interacting with the family).

Further, the parents who can have more time for themselves instead of trucking the children to the plethora of events has to be a good thing. The overall marriage relationship, which is most important within the family, has to be supported in each other.