Twenty-five years after it was first published, David Elkind has written a new introduction to this parenting classic. Although they have the very best intentions at heart, parents sometimes expose their children to overwhelming pressures, pressures that can lead to low self-esteem, to teenage pregnancy and even to teenage suicide. By blurring the boundaries of what is age appropriate, by expecting - or imposing - too much too soon, we force our kids to grow up too fast, to mimic adult sophistication while secretly yearning for innocence. With the first edition of ''The Hurried Child'', David Elkind emerged as the voice of reason, calling our attention to the crippling effects of hurrying. But in the more than two decades since this book first appeared, new generations of parents have inadvertently stepped up the assault on childhood, in the media, in schools and at home. In the third edition of this classic (2001), Dr. Elkind took a detailed, up-to-the-minute look at the Internet, classroom culture, school violence, movies, television and a growing societal incivility to show parents and teachers where hurrying occurs and why.And as before, he offered parents and teachers alike insight, advice and hope for encouraging healthy development while protecting the joy and freedom of childhood. In this twenty-fifth anniversary edition, Dr. Elkind delivers a new introduction that puts 25 years of trends and change into perspective for parents today.