La pérdida de la diferencia: sentido y sinsentido en la relación entre generaciones

The social and cultural transformations of the last decades determined a progressive erosion of the distance between neighboring generations. If the difference that distinguishes a child from a grown-up person vanishes, childhood disappears. In our society of uncertainty, the intergenerational relationship is full of paradoxes and contradictions. While the birthrate decreases, grows the expectation towards health, well-being, success and self-actualization of the kids, with consequent actitudes of hyperprotection. Nevertheless, despite the increasing idealization of the tender age, children are losing their childhood again. The untimely adultization of children and the enduring infantilization of adult people produce a situation of apparent closeness, that actually prevent the possibility of educating. In the time of narcissism and "hypertrophia of the ego" (Frankl) education is possible only if parents try to recover the sense of limit and responsibility and to bear witness to the value of self-transcendence.