We found precursors to "Modern parents [who] heap so much praise on their children that they are creating a 'smug generation' with little idea of the real world" (Barry Wigmore,
Daily Mail). A baby is proclaimed "king" in
The Quiver (1877), a child is nicknamed "the president" in
The Leisure Hour (1858), and an extraordinary and brilliant future is predicted for "a creature so amazing" in
The Quiver, 1874.