News Reel

OK, so none of this is real news, just stories I found on Yahoo while checking my (spam) e-mail account that interested me and I felt like sharing.

I haven't watched much of the Olympics (largely because every time I try I just end up seeing Bob Costa's face), but I have been keeping up with several of the Olympic stories. You may have heard about Olympian figure skater Joannie Rochette whose mother had a massive heart attack upon her arrival at Vancouver earlier this week and passed away. This was on Sunday, two days before Joannie's first skate. She decided to skate anyways, and landed in third place after Tuesday (there will be more skating tonight). A former Olympian, speed skater Dan Jansen, has been in a very similar situation before. His sister died just hours before his big race, the same race where he promised her he would win the gold. Well, here's the rest of the story:


He reached out to Joannie in an e-mail saying: "I don't know if you can prepare for the emotions you're going to feel out there, but if you can get through it there are millions of people supporting you. And most of all, skate with your mother in your heart." I think it's really neat he did this, and I hope they meet up sometime. I know it would help me to talk to someone who had been through the same thing.

*

So I've mentioned my interest in naming trends before. Today I saw this article about how researchers think that giving children more unique names is a reflection of society's narcissism and may even lead to the child's own narcissism. If you're like me, you might be skeptical of this theory, but here's how it works...

"The most compelling explanation left is this idea that parents are much more focused on their children standing out," [researcher] Twenge told LiveScience. "There's been this cultural shift toward focusing on the individual, toward standing out and being unique as opposed to fitting in with the group and following the rules."

The positive side of individualism, Twenge said, is that there is less prejudice and more tolerance for minority groups. But she warns that when individualism is taken too far, the result is narcissism.

"I think it is an indication of our culture becoming more narcissistic," Twenge said.

Past research has shown that back in the 1950s parents placed a lot of importance on a child being obedient, which has gone way down. "Parenting has become more permissive and more child-focused and [parents] are much more reluctant to be authority figures," Twenge said.

As for whether these unusually named kids will have personalities to match is not known.

"It remains to be seen whether having a unique name necessarily leads to narcissism later in life," Twenge said. "If that unique name is part of a parent's overall philosophy that their child is special and needs to stand out and that fitting in is a bad thing, then that could lead to those personality traits."

The part about how in the 50's it was important for children to obedient their parents, whereas now the focus is on, well, the child, is what I find most interesting. In fact, my pastor pretty much taught on this a few weeks ago. A child is not wiser than his or her parent (98% of the time), and parents should not be taking their cues in parenting from their kids. I don't mean parents should ignore their children or be mindful of their wants/needs/desires/personality, but they should not let their children essentially rule the household. The "everyone is special" mentality that is running rampant today is absolutely crazy. I'm all for individuality and everything, but it can definitely be taken too far. I think my generation has suffered a little bit from this idea that we can do anything, because now a lot of us are graduating college and realizing that we actually can't. I can't imagine just how much worse it's going to be for the generations after us, who grew up believing that they're so special that they're always going to win in life. That will be a rude awakening when they don't get accepted into a college or rejected for a job.

Yes, I think everyone has special and unique talents to offer, but there are a lot of people in this country (and world!) and not everyone can stand out. It's been hard for me to learn that from my own personal experience. Anyhow, I don't care what people name their children (though I feel sorry for the child if it's super weird), just so long as they don't attach it with the idea that their child is the greatest gift to all mankind. Once again, I am just fascinated by how naming trends are a reflection of our society and how much a name can affect a child!