In 1693, the philosopher John Locke warned that children should not be given too much "unhealthy fruit" to eat. Three centuries later,     1    ideas about child-raising are still popular. Many parents fear that their     2    will die unless ceaselessly watched. In America the law can be     3    paranoid. In South Carolina this month a mother was jailed for letting her 9-year-old daughter play in a park     4    .
    By most objective     5    , modern parents are far more     6    than previous generations. Dads are far more hands-on than their fathers were, and working mothers spend more time     7    their children than the housewives of the 1960s did.
    There are two     8    in this picture, connected to class. One is at the lower end.     9    poor parents spend more time with their children than they once did, they spend less than rich parents do—and they     10    to provide enough support,     11    in the crucial early years.
    The second problem, less easily to prove, occurs at the other end of the     12    scale: well-educated, rich parents try to do too much. Safety is part of it—they fear that if they are not     13    attentive their children may break their necks or eat a cupcake that has fallen on the floor.
    The fear about safety is the least     14    . Despite the     15    you get from watching crime dramas, children in rich countries are safe,     16    they look both ways before     17    the road. The other popular parental fear—that your children might not get into an Ivy League college—is more rational.     18    success matters more than ever before. But     19    a certain point, parenting makes less difference than many parents imagine.     20    appears to matter more than upbringing in the job's markets, too.