The 'Fragile Millennial' Epidemic | Dr. Jordan Peterson  

"I'm not courageous, I'm afraid of the right things." What a powerful and amazing insight!!

Parenting has always been a fine balance between protecting your child and also encouraging them to learn by experience and the consequences of their actions.

About 10 years ago a friend of mine who was an educational assistant at an elementary school told me that tennis balls had become a banned item that students could no longer bring to use at recess or even bring to school at all. If you are someone who doesn't see a problem with this then you are part of the problem.

Imagine how strong and meaningful a person must be so the adults not agreeing with that person need coloring books to calm themselves.

A wise man in an age of collectivist stupidity. Stay strong Jordan Peterson.

Always spot on . The weight and loneliness of standing alone and fighting the tide is apparent in his eyes. I wish him courage and a strong stomach

This is a huge reason I thank God for my husband. I'm an only child born to parents who were very young when they had me and I was very much overprotected. My husband has thankfully patiently let me vent and talk out my irrational feelings until something clicks in my mind and I reach an understanding of how to cope with a situation or even my own thinking about topics and life in general. When we met, I couldn't even think for myself, I just regurgitated what I had been told to think. And this is a lot of what we're seeing with people being able to be fooled so easily.

Only Jordan Peterson could take a compliment about being courageous and spin it back into another brilliantly articulate insightful statement. What a legend.

I love how intently Jordan listens to people in front of him. He really focuses on every word that is said.

I have 3 kids and we're definitely outnumbered :) I absolutely agree that 'fragility' is a plague. I see how my 3 kids teach each other resistance and resilience just by playing rough on each other.

Father had me making phone orders to restaurants when I was 7, calling stores to complain when I was 8, handed me a cellphone and made me walk home and to daycare starting 3rd grade. I did all homework myself, played with kids after school, and spent my small allowance to eat the chips and drinks I wanted. At the time I didn't know how terrified he was when he did that but swallowed his fear to make me resilient. Now... well... I'm pretty invincible in the world and am also 1000% certain that I do not have the guts to do what my father did for me. An utter shame...

He had to look away , he was getting teary eyed when Anderson complimented him. Jordan always looks like he has the weight of the world on hi shoulders. Such a brilliant , brave man. 👏

A wise & humble man It's sad that speaking the truth must now be considered courageous

Could not agree more! My cuzzie and his wife had seven children and I was amazed how they got on with looking after themselves, washing ,making their own school lunch ect. They have all done extremely well and are wonderful people!

My wife works at a University and everything he says about those parents and their children is spot on. They need someone to hold their hand with everything, especially the ones with rich parents, they either can’t do anything or expect someone else to do it for them because someone always has done it for them.

“Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.”

Every time I watch and listen closely to Jorden Peterson, I'm always left with days of thinking, considering and often feverishly searching for various of the reference material he so easily cites to augment his words. Very stimulating at nearly 80. I can only imagine how I would have reacted even 40 years ago.

Fools will multiply and have done when wise men are silent. Your voice is so important Dr Peterson. Thank You..

“Afraid of the right things.” A mantra to live by.

"If a space needs to be defined as 'safe' you can be sure that is the one thing it is not" Too true.

If parents aren't raising future adults instead of children, then they're doing it wrong. I let my kids do just about anything they wanted to try, but with warnings and guidance. If their proposed idea or activity got them hurt, then they learned from it and grew. All 3 are now well-adjusted and productive adults, with families of their own.

Brilliant last comments from Jordan, words to live by. "It's less risky to say something, than to remain silent when you know there's something to be said". Look at examples of our world today and apply this wisdom.

I recall the "self esteem" push in the elementary schools during the early 80's. Having put several children through public schools in a blue state, I have a keen awareness of how this fragility came into being. After the self esteem push, the kids came to the false realization that they were the center of the universe. Their universe. Their truth. They believe that any and all problems that arose were born of outside influences such as problematic teachers and schoolyard bullies. The child never learned self soothing or problem solving apart from parental intervention. That generation never learned solo or parallel play. Every game or activity had to be started by adults. Once the adult taught the game to the kids, they immediately lost interest and would follow the adult crying, "What's next"? The ability for imaginative play became dead. It still is to a point. Around this time, the blame game was born. The child comes to believe that if problems exist, it's never their fault on any level. Someone else will be the one that needs change. Even the child's skewed thinking is never challenged. If the child feels a certain way, it's deemed legitimate even if clearly wrong. This current generation has been raised by the most sensitive of all imaginable individuals and their inability for self awareness is almost nil. I'm so glad I instilled hard work in my child and he had the ability to think critically about himself in order to assume responsibility for his part in a problem he is having to tackle.

Jordan is one of the better people around these days. I really appreciate him being on this rock with the rest of us.

Brilliant! The voice of wisdom in the world of chaos. Respect to you sir.

"It's not that I'm courageous. It's that I'm afraid of the right things."

What a great line "It's not that I'm courageous, I'm just afraid of the right things"

I am so thankful for ANY person who is well educated, wise, intelligent, compassionate, and feared by the modern 'woke' element in this world, and that such a person has the need, and courage, to point out the crevasse society is presently falling into. Thank you, Jordan Peterson.

It takes a strong Person to stand up to the madness today.

Thank you for interviewing this gem of a man so respectfully. His words are such an important antidote to the rubbish values we are currently fed by society, the media & our institutions. I am so grateful for Dr JP & the beautiful rock that/who supports him, his strong wife

Always a pleasure to hear you interviewed by someone who appreciates what you’re offering.

Jordan, as usual, is spot on. I've seen so many parents try to protect their kids from reality rather than prepare them for it. I see either too much control being asserted or none at all. Where is the mentoring and the nurturing of their child's interests? I was never cool with child sociology being outsourced to schools, and after decades of it's inception, we can see where it has led.

Once again this man shows us why he is one of the greatest thinkers today

My best friend is exactly the same as what's being said. So much so that when he got fired from a job where his parents couldn't make it go away he just had a total meltdown... and now he works for his dad...

Professor Peterson is brilliant and spot on with his assessment on millenials!

I think it was nice for the interviewer to pay a genuine compliment to Dr. Peterson. You can't come up with that sort of an insightful and precise compliment without an attempt to truly understand him

A remarkable thinker of our times.

When an entire generation has been told since they were born, that you “should tell an adult”, “everyone’s a winner”, “it’s about participating”, “don’t do it if you don’t want to” - then this is what we end up with.

I find it frustrating that as a "geriatric millenial" I am constantly hearing that millenials have shaped and formed culture already even though we represent a sliver of a minority in leadership positions to include college professors, physicians, legislators, CEOs, judges, celebrities...you get the point. We have five children and the rules for overprotection were in place before they got here. I, as a mother, feel suffocated by the obsession with physical safety, not really from peers but from society as a whole. I mean we didn't create the law that a child needs a carseat until they are 7. I use to babysit when I was 12, but now it is illegal for me to use my 12 year old as a sitter. If you don't watch your child, even in their sleep until a certain age, you're considered borderline neglectful. In the 80s parents gave out Doritos and PB&J for lunch, left their kids in the car while they shopped, drove kids in the car not only without carseats but without seatbelts too, allowed their kids to ride their bikes everywhere with out a helmet. They instutionalize children by daycare, public school, all the way up to college, regulate everything and the judgement regarding safety is relentless. Honestly, the worshipping of safety crushes spirits and will result in epidemics of suicide. I homeschool to give my children freedom from the ridiculous safety standards society thrusts on parents and children, among other absurd and illogical theories. We just checked out, bought 160 acres in the country in a community where people live in reality and I'm done with experts. They give guidance they themselves never used and are rarely anchored in reality, morality or science. Although I do appreciate Jordan Peterson.

JP is such a good, focused listener! He doesn't seem to be thinking about what he's going to say instead of paying attention to what he's hearing. He also carefully chooses his words, has no fear of stopping in mid-sentence and thinking before he speaks, and he's obviously open to hearing the opinions of others who disagree, no matter how rude they might be. I don't always agree with him or like what he says, but I greatly admire his intellect and his bravery in stating unpopular views. And the fact that Twitter is afraid of him makes me like him even more.

I love jordan peterson being able to speak and be listened to rather than it being a debate for once.

He gets it right so many times. Ruthlessly logical , just brilliant .

I'm SO happy I introduced myself to Dr Peterson. "He's back!", I can feel and see it. He has not lost it at all! More power Dr Jordan!!! Respecting you from NZ.

Fantastic that John Anderson has emerged as an open minded, reasonable and engaging intellect.

Think I will head over to the full conversation but , off the top of my head Jordon is spot on when he talks about mental 'health' professionals not doing the difficult work of exposing anxious people ( that is all of us now) to reality rather than finding way to avoid it or worse referring to big pharma. The end result is infanti;ization which results in over complience . Think about that.

Much respect for jordan peterson, a sane and articulate beacon shining a light on the stupidity of today's society. 👏

One reason I retired early from teaching was I couldn't continue to being complicit in what I considered borderline child neglect -- the over protectiveness of not letting students fail.

Wow, what an awesome compliment that guy gave Jordan. That was totally true and really right on for him to say so.

Bravo Jordan Peterson, Bravo. If you were raised with 3 - 5 siblings, you understand the phrase - helicopter kids raising themselves as a group while your parents are worn out from the day’s work. I wouldn’t trade my upbringing from any other rich, overindulged, over protected child.

Interesting video. I had not considered that the creation of fragile kids could result from having fewer kids. I have called the younger generation "hothouse" kids for years because just like plants raised in a hothouse they can't survive outside unless you "harden them off" first.

The fact that so many people try to call JP some sort of "right-wing extremist" tells me all I need to know about modern discourse.

Overall a great explanation of what causes helicopter parenting. I also think it's narcissism. Modern parents see their kids as appendages of themselves - not separate entities. They have a hard time watching them suffer any negative emotions. That's always been the case to some extent, but now it's even more the case.

No need to hover if you've instilled values into your children dispite what culture is doing. Trust is built never given whether it's family or any other relationship. Raise sharp, faithful, strong kids.

I got one. I only got him for part of his childhood, i have been extremely lucky to have him not turn out afu, in fact im blessed that he's on a much better path than I have ever been and will continue to do so. We both share as adults many of the same values as Jordan Peterson. Its reassuring and encouraging as well as highly informative. How could anyone pass this man off as evil? How absurd! JP is a superhero if there EVER could be one. Get this man a cape and an entourage! Imagine a world where real leaders hold great positions, thanks Professor!

I love how people put a definition on Jordan , than he corrects them , it is always enlightening , IMHO .

I reluctantly clicked on the video because I figured that I knew what Peterson would speak of politics. I would _mostly_ agree with him. But I now tend to shy away from having my opinions reinforced by experts. I prefer to have my opinions challenged. But to my surprise, Peterson did not go with politics in his explanation, but rather with social science.

Then, on the other end of the extreme, I was abused, ignored and neglected, and forced to learn about life without any guidance or support whatsoever. It took me longer to learn, and was very difficult. I am self taught in many things and, unfortunately, there are many gaps in my knowledge. I relish the opportunity to be properly taught by professionals in any area to alleviate the high anxiety I always felt, and still feel, as I had to struggle, and fail, and live in confusion. Even now, at 56, I don't have full comprehension about many areas of life. I always feel burdened because I was never properly trained in anything; even at how to be a human being. I had way too much responsibility way too soon in life, but the lack of guidance is what made it difficult for me. I grew up in a dysfunctional, abusive household that was devoid of love and filled with humiliation and competition. It was so difficult. Luckily for me I was always strangely very mature, but I can't wait for the day I feel like a complete "grown-up" who knows everything I should know to live happily. I know learning by experience can be great, and many people are successfully self taught. Perhaps it was my personality make-up, or due to the overwhelm I always felt being so alone and left to flounder on my own. I have some psychological issues now, and CPTSD due to abuse and neglect from my childhood, so I assume this is the reason it is difficult for me. I agree with Jordan Peterson, though, that children should not be overprotected. I love that man. Just venting. Thanks.

Thank you for being afraid and sharing your wisdom, Jordan Peterson. It is so refreshing to hear you and realize that I am neither alone, nor crazy.

My friend and I used to manage a farm-stay for years and had mostly young families with littles kids staying. We had a variety of animals which we’d introduce the kids to and show them how to be and feed animals (including large, powerful animals). Most of the children were so fearful and anxious about EVERYTHING let alone being with farm animals. Typically, we noticed that the more the parents lacked authority and clear boundaries, the more fearful the children were. The good news was/is that by providing a strong example and showing them how to be with animals etc usually broke down the kid’s fear hugely within the period of their stay and they became much more confident and self assured which animals also responded to. I don’t how much that affected their lives after that, but at least the kids got some direct experience of practical life and realised they could handle it…still not sure about the parents though.

"The phrase I don't want to be as stern with my kids as my parents were with me" comes to my mind. That, associated with the "Buddy syndrome" where parents seeks there kids approval, by becoming their friends and not their parents are the root of what's happening today. You can add to that the innate inability that the "Millennials" have to cope with frustration due to missing tools in their toolbox (that prepares them to deal with adverse situations) and you will have a receipt to disaster, in my opinion.

Growing up in the 70s and attending a boy’s only Catholic secondary school, it was generally quite a cruel. The Christian brothers were especially autocratic and tensions leaked throughout the students’ behaviours. If you parents were called due to a school issue, you copped it from both sides. More recently, if a teacher enforces discipline on a student, they incur the wrath of the parent. When I commenced an apprenticeship after this, I was blessed throughout with trade qualified mentors who were like parents. They were both caring and harsh. At the end of the day, they wanted to prepare you for the culture of the industry. I think I’m a better person for being challenged continuously in these environments. A Zen Buddhist teacher once told me that if you over fertilise a plant, it doesn’t bear fruit.

Love Jordan Peterson! He’s right on target 🎯!!

To be vulnerable is to be courageous and brave. I just adore Jordan Peterson!

Nailed it - out of a brood of 16 (no twins!), I arrived as #14 - tough, resilient and of course dysfunctional. I can honestly say we raised each other - we always had enough participants for any game we wanted to play, were poor, we were creative, we fought, shared and cared through it all. Education was encouraged only to a point because a job meant you could contribute to the family - I certainly don’t advocate the crazy size however I will say that the family dynamics were quite an education in itself

It used to be called spoiling your children and everyone new what it meant.

My daughters are 37 and 35. Both were raised conservatively. I'm 60. Both were a joy to raise. Each daughter is married, employed, and a mommy to three children. My daughters and their husbands are doing a terrible job in terms of teaching their children how to behave. They range in age from 5 to 15 years. IMHO, both daughters find it difficult to have authority over their kids. Additionally, both husbands are afraid to discipline their children because, ultimately, their afraid of their wives. (Know anyone gone through a divorce, lately?) Based upon my years working in public education, again, IMHO, it is the more liberal, or more accurately, more feminine approach to managing children as they maturate through adolescence and into young adulthood that is at the root of many of today's societal ills.

Thank you for making the highly complex understandable even to me. When I listen to you or read your words very often I am surprised that it is exactly what I couldn't clarify on my own.

“If a space needs to be defined as safe, you can be sure that is the one thing it is not.” Yet another pearl from the Jung of our epoch.

Here, here, well done and deserving praise. 👏

how good is Jordan Peterson?!?! I love listening to this guy, he makes too much sense and tackles every topic from every angle.. just brilliant !!

"The worst thing you can do to an anxious person is to overprotect them". Seen that, 100% true, that person kept withdrawn into the overprotection and drifted further and further away from the social networks.

Wow. Thanks Jordan. I cried with your encouragement about Courage

That was a great explanation for the safety madness these days. I saw him discuss this with Haidt but it was not as clear as this.

Only child of parents brought up in the sixties. We just got on with everything and I was left to work it out for myself. I am independent and resilient and have had my fair share of knocks but I get on with it. Life wasn't cosseted or a protective bubble and I have my parents to thank for being the strong person that I am

Beautiful affirmation by John at 7mins, well deserved. What Jordan Peterson continues to do is speak his mind because he feels it is important; too often the herds stay silent.

Jordan Peterson is without doubt the wisest man I have ever taken the time to listen to. He unfailingly speaks the truth, he knows his facts, he does his research, he interprets what he learns correctly, he is a monster of an intellect and long may he continue to help people, young and old, to live a better life and to question everything the "establishment" says and does, as it is rarely in the interest of the common man.

So true, Jordan! Why isn't this common knowledge?

Jordan is one of THE very few speakers of genuine truth in the world today, and who can freely do it without cancellation. The fact he's an absolute genius, and also a man with compassion, makes him almost unrivalled. Long may he continue to bring common sense, decency and fairness into world discourse. A great man of our time.

to think that we may not have had this man in our lives... the odds were high he would have stayed a normal guy in a normal life. But now we have him. So happy we do.

My parents had a restaurant and I remember from about 7-8 years old we were there every day after school till we finished high school and beyond. I was about 9 when I started doing the banking for my dad,that is, carry all the cash to the bank in a brown paper bag(for obvious reasons) to do his deposits as he didn't have time. We started at around 6am and finished around 8.30pm and we had to do our school work by that time at the shop. We as adults now in our 50's enjoy recalling all those times we hated being there and thinking it wasn't fair as none of the other kids at school did the same. And it's only in recent years that I realized we well off compared to everyone else we knew from school who I thought were better than us becausetheir parentswere educated.English was a second language for my parents. But we all became hard working successful people because it was instilled in us that to get anywhere we had to work hard.Nowadays this would be considered child labour or child abuse. What hogwash!!

The main cause of over protective parenting, certainly in the UK, stems from several gruesome murders of young children in the late 60s & 70s as well as a series of children who had disappeared or been abducted. Now these are rare events but every parents fears. Nobody wants their child to go through that. Newspapers & media fuelled the idea that you had to protect kids from harmful people, stranger danger is an example of this.

Excellent talk. Perfect for these times.

I, as a 51yrs old mother of a 13yrs old son supremely appreciate this discussion.

Proud Canadian 👏 Best intellectual and speaker to come out of Canada 🇨🇦

Brilliant! Genius! So blatantly obvious but so hard to see. Thank you Mr. Peterson!

Being the youngest of seven with my father passing when I was two put me in a position of learning how sh!t rolls downhill with siblings. One way to dodge the rolling sh!t is by learning to cope by not giving anyone enough rope. Choose your battles. Never supply anyone the rope they’ll use to hang you. It’s good to grow up in a large family. I learned have the tools (the smarts) to cut the ropes whether it’s on the job or among a circle of friends,etc.

Brilliance and humility. A rare combination these days.

Wishing I have teachers who have mindset like these two valuable professors when I was in college…. Big fan of Dr.Jordan Peterson!

I love listening to you. You make me think and I have a better understanding of life and my place in it. Thank you

Peterson is absolutely correct. I had an overprotective mother, and her parenting philosophy was a disaster for me.

once again, an extremely well articulated response - good job letting him talk Mr. ANDERSON

glad to hear Jordan answer how and why he is a channel of abundant information!! a sign of a true teacher is one who is willing to give in his speach as much information he knows in and between breaths..in my case it was my son who introduced me to Jordan's talks he a mere 24 years old..I was impressed from the very first talk I heard about 5 years ago!!

A 32yo millennial in my team just got signed off work for a month with ‘work related anxiety’. Her job is to post on internal social media about our health and well-being services. Very cushy number. I’m 50 and been doing her job as well as my own the last few weeks without a problem. She’s on LinkedIn complaining and saying she’s looking for another job. She’s never worked anywhere else and I honestly think she’s going to learn some hard lessons if she can’t handle the job she’s in now. I hope she does crash and burn frankly because she needs to. Daddy can’t always fix it for her

Just stumbled across this. Thanks John for putting this up.

I was married for 15 years and I raised my son primarily alone. My husband was always at work. He worked 12-18 hour shifts, 6-7 days a week. I worked 8-12 hour shifts 5 days a week. So since I worked less it was my responsibility. I grew up with a mother that suffocated me and when it was time for me to leave her house she told me that me leaving was selfish to her. I never wanted to be anything like that woman. I raised my son to be strong and don't always look to me for answers. I made him research his answers. I also explained opinion vs facts. I wanted him to be able to stand on his own. Now he is an amazing man with a great work ethic. Women can raise children well under the right circumstances. It's better raise them to be self-reliant with guidance and to let them go and trust your raising.

Dr. Peterson, you are the champion of Tough Love!

Brilliant, as always. This is such an important topic to address in these times of ours.

Parents need to realize that they are not raising children, they are moulding future adults. We had consequences growing up and you may not have liked it but you learned. Yes some carried it to far, and those people still exist even today, but the family has regressed into ruin.

Dr Peterson is one of a very few who speak the truth about what is going on today.

May God Bless you.Thank you for standing strong.