There have been lots of opinions written about under-parenting. But what about over-parenting? Are you aware that there can also be such thing as this? Over-parenting seems like a silly notion at first for how can paying a lot of attention to your children make you a bad parent?
Over-parenting is out there and most over-parenting parents will not recognize it as a problem. After all, a good parent, in theory, wants to do everything they can for their kids. What is less obvious is that maybe that is not such a great plan.
You probably will not argue against the idea that an important element of growing up, in addition to education and nurturing and positive role models, is experience. It takes both positive and negative experiences to show us the appropriate way to navigate the world. How will we know success without experiencing failure? How will we know victory without experiencing defeat?
Most parents though would try to shield their kids from anything negative. I have no question with anyone’s parenting style. But I agree that when parents act as some sort of snowplow, pushing aside anything frightening or unpleasant, it i’s likely to leave their children ill-equipped for independence. It is important to let kids take their own steps and explore their own boundaries because that really is the way they are going to figure out how it goes in real life. Recognize that our misguided attempts to help our children might have the unintended consequence of stunting their emotional growth.
We are not always going to be there, like it or not. And our children need to know how to survive when we are no longer around. They say being a parent is the toughest job you will ever have. Maybe letting go a little is one of the toughest parts of all.
By LEONICE N. DACAWE
