How Overparenting Affects Kids
Overparenting can negatively impact a kid’s future. While you may think that you are just being a loving parent who simply “protects” your children, you may actually be doing them harm. LET THEM GO! Kids need to live their lives and make mistakes! That’s the best way for them to learn. Being a helicopter parent can lead your kids to have major anxiety, lack of experience in certain areas of life, adjustment, social, and behavioral issues, spoiled behavior, depression, and a lack of independence later in their lives.
Anxiety is one common issue related to overparenting. Some negative impacts associated with this include constantly having concerns and fearing things, over sensitive, unable to communicate, and many others. According to a study at Johns Hopkins University “found that controlling behaviors in mothers led to children who had fewer opportunities to develop the skills needed to make appropriate decisions. Without such opportunities, children believed that they were less competent, which triggered increases in anxiety levels” (“The Effects”).Children not developing the skills needed to make appropriate decisions is bad because it could lead to bad decision making later in their life.
Lacking life experiences such as common human mistakes can severely impact a child’s future. Children need to make mistakes! Adults need to make mistakes! Without them how would we learn life lessons? Parents who are overprotective don’t allow their kids to learn lessons on their own, ultimately hurting them for the future when they have to make big decisions on their own. This can result “in their having a black and white view of the world, a lack of sympathy for people in more difficult situations and generally a lack of awareness” (“How Overparenting”). Experiencing life is essential to learning. For example, you can research a place in the world, however, you won’t learn as much as you would if you could physically be in that place experiencing it first hand.
Adjustment, social, and behavioral issues are some more negative ways over parenting can affect kids. Difficulty adjusting is a big problem for kids whether it be college, new experiences, etc. Social issues are one of the biggest negatives when it comes to over parenting. Not being able to fully communicate with people will affect them all throughout their lives. Behavioral issues may include not sharing things or being uncomfortable with unfamiliar situations.
Another problem is spoiled behavior. This can often be overlooked, however, it is a major problem. Spoiling your children too much can lead to unrealistic expectations later in their lives.
Depression is a very serious effect that is common. In a survey “of 100,000 college students, the following percentages found themselves facing the following difficulties: 84% felt overwhelmed by responsibilities, 60.5% felt quite sad, 57% felt lonely, 51% felt anxious, and 4% considered suicide seriously at some point” (“Helicopter Parenting”). Children who are overparented and grow up with these common issues talked about above can lead to a very lonely, intimidating life, which leads to depression.
Lastly, a lack of independence can be an issue with controlling parents. Everybody is different, but parents sometimes don’t realize that and tend to try and form their kids into their shoes. That is not a good thing! Each person is different and everybody needs their own path. “Kids need to grow up with a sense of independence and responsibility in their life. Without those two things, kids won’t learn important life skills” (Reinarz).
In conclusion, helicopter parents have no idea the harm they are doing their kids. These negative effects are extremely important for parents to know, so that you will try your best to be a good, supportive, loving parent, but not one who unintentionally harms their kid/s by being overprotective.
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