UK children 'babied' by intrusive parents, says PM's adviser

Is over-parenting stifling British children's ability to fend for themselves? UK Prime Minister's adviser on childhood thinks so.
Every moment of a child's life is filled with organised activities, leaving young people unable to fend for themselves when they go to university, says Claire Perry, Prime Minister David Cameron's adviser on the commercialisation and sexualisation of childhood.
Perry, 48 and a mother of three, says, "We've created a treadmill. It's usually the mother that is orchestrating all of that and doing all the driving."
"We have created rods for our own back. Children need time to be bored," she was quoted as saying by The Times.

Perry, who took a seven-year break from her career in management consulting when her children were young and admits that she was guilty of "hovering" over them when she stayed at home.
She said that mothers subjugated their own ambition into their children. That made it harder when they reached university and realised that they had not got a mother to help them with their homework, watching their every move.

The revival of 1950s-style homemaking had added to the burden on today's mothers. "We fetishise cupcakes ... I like baking but I don't want to make that my life's purpose. We worship this feminine motherhood thing and I don't think our children have benefited actually. They're babied a lot."

Perry said that, despite the intense focus on children's lives, parents were often afraid to lay down the law.
"Good parenting isn't just about making sure they come top in maths but all the difficult stuff too. If they don't learn the limits from us who is going to tell them?"
Nowhere was this more apparent than when it comes to the Internet, she says.
"Most parents are too busy, don't know the words, aren't aware their children are doing it. They are living in digital oblivion," she said.
Meanwhile, Perry's comments on parenting was greeted with dismay by campaigners, the paper said.

"Mothers are, sadly, used to copping a lot of blame but being charged with being over-protective, cupcake-baking helicopter parents at the same time as being feckless, couch potatoes who let their children have unfettered Internet access is a bit rich," said Justine Roberts, co-founder of the Mumsnet forum.
"Politicians could more usefully perhaps focus on improving local schools, job prospects, childcare options and flexible work solutions than telling us how to be better parents," Roberts said.