"Children have to learn to negotiate the world on their own, within reasonable boundaries," White says. "I suspect that it's only certain sectors of the population doing the running to the school –better –educated parents are probably more likely to be too involved."
White believes our notions of a more child-centered society should be challenged. "Today we have a situation where, in many families, both parents work so the amount of time children get from parents has diminished." she says.
diminish
父母都工作，陪孩子的时间当然就减少了(diminish)。
属于内在逻辑关系之根据因果关系猜词词义。
"Also, sometimes when we talk about being child-centered, it's a way of talking about treating our children like commodities(商品). We're centered on them but in ways that reflect positively on us. We treat them as objects whose appearance and achievements are something we can be proud of, rather than serve the best interests of the children."
One way over-worked, under-resourced parents show commitment to their children is to leap to their defence. Back at the park, Bianchi's intervention(干预) on her son's behalf ended in an undignified exchange of insulting words with the other boy's mother.
As Bianchi approached the park bench where she'd been sitting, other mums came up to her and congratulated her on taking a stand. "Apparently the boy had a longstanding reputation for bad behaviour and his mum for even worse behaviour if he was challenged."
Andrew Fuller doesn't believe that we should be afraid of dealing with other people's kids. "Look at kids that aren't your own as a potential minefield," he says. He recommends that we don't stay silent over inappropriate behaviour, particularly with regular visitors.
longstanding
将longstanding根据构词法拆分：long(长时间)+stand(站立)+-ing(形容词后缀)，可知longstanding指长期存在的。
属于构词技巧之根据词根词缀猜词词义。