The paradox of raising children in abundance
For decades, millions of parents have worked with one legitimate obsession: to offer their children more opportunities, more security, and a better life than they had. But in that almost universal effort to give them “everything,” we may be forgetting something essential: not everything we can give helps them grow.
This is the uncomfortable premise of The Price of Privilege, the influential book by American psychologist Madeline Levine, which brings to light a reality as silent as it is disturbing: many young people raised in environments of material abundance are growing up emotionally more fragile, more anxious, and emptier than previous generations.
When material success doesn’t guarantee emotional well-being
Levine argues, based on years of clinical experience, that among adolescents from affluent families there is a high incidence of anxiety, depression, substance abuse, and low self-esteem. Not because money is harmful in itself, but because it often comes accompanied by a toxic culture of pressure, perfectionism, and permanent success.
The problem isn’t privilege. The problem is what we do with it.
The child executive’s agenda: no space to grow
We live in a society where from increasingly early ages we teach our children that they must stand out, compete, perform, and excel. Their schedules look like those of an executive: school, languages, sports, extracurricular activities, academic tutoring.
There’s barely any space left to:
- Get bored and develop creativity
- Reflect on their emotions
- Make mistakes and learn from them
- Discover who they really are
And meanwhile, we confuse education with performance.
Prepared to pass tests, not to live
The great paradox of our time is that we’re raising young people prepared to pass exams, earn degrees, and build impeccable résumés, but not necessarily to manage frustration, build healthy relationships, or find meaning in their lives.
We’re training children to excel in the market… but not always for life.
Hyper-involved parents… but emotionally distant
Levine particularly warns about an increasingly frequent phenomenon: parents extremely involved in planning and supervising their children’s lives, but often disconnected from their deeper emotional needs.
Parents who control every detail of their academic development but don’t always know how to listen to their fears, insecurities, or silences.
Perhaps because, without realizing it, we’ve also turned parenting into a competition.
The reflection of a society sick with productivism
This reflection goes far beyond the family sphere. Because what happens in our homes is simply a reflection of the society we’ve built: a culture obsessed with productivity, external validation, image, and visible success.
A system where personal value seems to depend increasingly on what one achieves and less and less on who one is.
That’s why this book doesn’t just talk about education; it talks about the existential emptiness of an entire generation.
The uncomfortable question we must ask ourselves
What’s the point of offering our children all the opportunities in the world if we don’t first teach them to live with purpose?
Educating for purpose, not just for success
We need to recover an education —and a business and social culture— centered on more human values:
- Empathy over competitiveness
- Authenticity over image
- Resilience over perfectionism
- Humility over arrogance
- Service over personal gain
- Purpose over empty productivity
We need to stop obsessing over raising winners and start focusing on forming good people.
The true privilege
Because true privilege isn’t growing up surrounded by material abundance.
It’s growing up knowing who you are when everything superficial disappears.
The children we leave to the world
Years ago, a soulful entrepreneur left me with a reflection I’ve never forgotten:
“Don’t worry so much about the world you leave to your children; worry more about the children you leave to the world.”
Perhaps therein lies, in reality, our generation’s greatest responsibility.
If this analysis resonates with you, share it with someone who should read it.
Let´s talk →