Wilson claims many parents are caught up in the “waste no time” syndrome out of fear that their children will fall behind in our achievement-oriented society. To prevent academic failure, parents feel the need to carefully engineer every aspect of their children’s lives, from introducing early academics and scheduling enrichment activities like music and science classes, to pushing children in competitive sports and pressuring them to excel in school, where from an early age they are subjected to high-stakes testing and the stress of getting good grades.
