I was reading the Jerusalem Post article “In praise of negative income tax”, which details that Israel is expanding their negative income tax (NIT) to spurn economic growth. Milton Friedman, a neoconservative economist first proposed the NIT in his 1962 book “Capitalism and Freedom”, the results have been fantastic:
The Parenting Connection
Love & Logic posits that “struggle builds self-esteem”, they go on to say “Requiring our kids to earn some of the things they want is one of the greatest gifts we can give them.” Letting kids off the hook when they find themselves in a pickle robs them of the opportunity to figure it out for themselves, and more importantly, robs them of the opportunity to build self-esteem. Rescuing our kids will prevent their self esteem from growing, and create a dependence on us to bail them out of every pickle they get into. This rescuing is termed “hovering”, or in Love & Logic it is called “helicopter parenting”.
A great question to ask yourself when your child brings a problem to you is this, “who’s problem is it”? Far too often parents fail to ask this simple question and thus allow their children’s problems to become their own. They “hover” over their children, own the problem, rather then allowing their children to own it. When kids are put into the position to figure out their difficulties for themselves, they learn that they can be resourceful and creative, they become more independent and their self-esteem grows. If the path to success is paved with mistakes, why then do we always seek to protect our children from their mistakes?
In the same way, the nanny state’s hovering (i.e., providing welfare) has only create a system of dependence and low self-esteem, become a financial drain on the state and taxpayer, and created a generation of dependents who have been told by their government “I have to do this because you are not capable”. If the state decides to stop rescuing the unemployed, then the individuals would be forced back into the “struggle”, this would push them to be more resourceful, creative, and independent. Couple that with an incentive to enter the workforce via an NIT, and everybody wins; the economy is boosted, a culture of self responsibility and ownership (rather then dependency) is created, self-esteem grows, and the poor are still offered relief. It is akin to the old adage, “Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime”.
The United States would do well to follow little Israel’s lead and wean the unemployed off of welfare and back into the workforce. Our economy and those with lower income would benefit, because we are ALL more than capable.
Parenting & Politics
Central bank researchers reached the conclusion that NIT works. Not only did it raise 4.5 percent of the 28,800 recipients above the poverty line (8.7% among families), but it also reduced the gap between the poor and the rich. Fewer had their telephone and electricity services cut and fewer had to compromise on medical services.
Researchers estimated that if the program were expanded nation-wide, another 300,000 would be eligible, 2,300 families would be lifted above the poverty line, tens of thousands would breathe easier – all at a cost of NIS 393 million. Most important, unlike most welfare that encourages unemployment, NIT provides an incentive to get off the dole and into the job market.The last sentence is particularly interesting, instead of enabling people to stay home all day, be lazy, and perpetuate the system of victimhood and dependence, they are giving the lower class an incentive to contribute to the economy, as well as society in general. This removes the middleman, the welfare bureaucracy, which in and of itself could free up enormous amounts of government dollars for the NIT program.
The Parenting Connection
Love & Logic posits that “struggle builds self-esteem”, they go on to say “Requiring our kids to earn some of the things they want is one of the greatest gifts we can give them.” Letting kids off the hook when they find themselves in a pickle robs them of the opportunity to figure it out for themselves, and more importantly, robs them of the opportunity to build self-esteem. Rescuing our kids will prevent their self esteem from growing, and create a dependence on us to bail them out of every pickle they get into. This rescuing is termed “hovering”, or in Love & Logic it is called “helicopter parenting”.
The irony is that helicopter parents are often viewed by others as model parents. They feel uncomfortable imposing consequences. When they see their children hurting, they hurt too, so they bail them out. (Parenting with Love & Logic, by Foster Cline and Jim Fay, page 23)Unfortunately, this means that the problem isn’t their child, or their child’s pain, it is in fact the helicopter parents who are the problem. I feel that in order to be effective parents, it is important for us to own and heal the pain from our own childhood first, to discover the subconscious parenting messages that were spoken to us repeatedly as we were growing up. Having released this subconscious baggage, it becomes easier to watch our children struggle through their own problems. But instead of calling a helicopter parent to task for the damage that they are doing, our culture enables the behavior by making them “model parents”. This less then model parenting style sends a subconscious message to our children, just as helicopter governing sends a subconscious message to our country. It states:
“I have to do this because you are not capable.” I have to rescue you because you are not capable of remembering your homework. I have to rescue you becauseyou are not capable to wake up on time to catch the bus. I have to rescue you because you are not capable to find or hold a job. All because you are not capable!However, when children are allowed to accomplish (and fail) for themselves, it will boost their self-esteem:
Kids get the most out of what they accomplish for themselves. Children will get more out of making their own decision—even if it is wrong—than they will out of parents making that decision for them. Sometimes that means standing by as our kids struggle to compete a task we could easily help them with or do for them…Being a Love & Logic parent sends a very different message:
…The final steps of forming a positive self-concept as our kids grow is an inside job—it is something kids have to do for themselves. It comes from working hard and accomplishing good things. No amount of stuff or praise can build a resilient self-image for children. (Parenting with Love & Logic, by Foster Cline and Jim Fay, page 46-48)
I trust you to figure this out for yourself, you’re more than capable of making good decisions.Are your children smart? I seem to think mine are! Children, and people in general, are more than capable of making good choices and decisions, I avoid stealing those decision making opportunities from them, just as a government should avoid stealing the decision making opportunities from its people.
A great question to ask yourself when your child brings a problem to you is this, “who’s problem is it”? Far too often parents fail to ask this simple question and thus allow their children’s problems to become their own. They “hover” over their children, own the problem, rather then allowing their children to own it. When kids are put into the position to figure out their difficulties for themselves, they learn that they can be resourceful and creative, they become more independent and their self-esteem grows. If the path to success is paved with mistakes, why then do we always seek to protect our children from their mistakes?
In the same way, the nanny state’s hovering (i.e., providing welfare) has only create a system of dependence and low self-esteem, become a financial drain on the state and taxpayer, and created a generation of dependents who have been told by their government “I have to do this because you are not capable”. If the state decides to stop rescuing the unemployed, then the individuals would be forced back into the “struggle”, this would push them to be more resourceful, creative, and independent. Couple that with an incentive to enter the workforce via an NIT, and everybody wins; the economy is boosted, a culture of self responsibility and ownership (rather then dependency) is created, self-esteem grows, and the poor are still offered relief. It is akin to the old adage, “Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime”.
The United States would do well to follow little Israel’s lead and wean the unemployed off of welfare and back into the workforce. Our economy and those with lower income would benefit, because we are ALL more than capable.
Parenting & Politics
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