Many parents are overprotective about their children. Parents don’t realize that being a helicopter parent will hinder the development of self-esteem and self-confidence in their children. It is very natural for all parents to take care of their children and to protect them from any possible harm. The problem is when you start overprotecting them, you do more harm by hindering their overall development. Let us look at some tips on how to Stop Being An Overprotective Parent.
Stop Being An Overprotective Parent
1. Set clear goals for yourself while raising your children.
Parents need to have clear goals as to how they would be raising their children. Each parent knows the unique strengths and weakness of their child. They need to adopt proper parenting styles, which will suit them and their children. Of course, every child expert will encourage parents to follow the positive parenting style.
One of the key things is to not overprotect your child. Do not live your child’s life. It is important for them to fall, face failure, disappointment and agony in their life. Teach your children to overcome and face these failures. This will help them to become more confident, independent and self-competent.
2. Start teaching your children to take responsibility early in life.
Parents who teach their children responsibility early in life make their children strong and independent. Most parents are under the wrong impression to not give work to their children when they are small. Sometimes we find an overprotective dad doing all the jobs for his children and thus you have an overprotected child who just does not do anything.
Teach your children to do age appropriate chores like making the bed, clearing up their toys, cleaning their room and putting the clothes properly. Teaching a child to be responsible is one of the important life lessons and life skills. Assign the responsibilities fairly and according to their age.
3. Try and find out the reason why you are being overprotective.
It is important for parents to understand if there are any “real” justified reasons for being overprotective.There can be various reasons and parents need to understand whether the approach of being overprotective is right.
Some of the reasons for being overprotective parents are listed below ;
- Parents don’t want their children to get physically hurt.
- Parents do not want their children to face rejection.
- Further parents want to micromanage everything for their children.
- As parents, you give your opinion on each and every matter pertaining to your children. The result is that children are unable to take age-appropriate decisions.
- As an overprotective parent, you keep your child from failing. It is important to know that everyone faces failure at some point in time. The fear of failures in life makes us become an overprotective parent.
- Failure teaches an important life lesson and it can be learned only by experiencing it.
- It is important to inform your children about the safety aspects but do not scare them so much that they may never try out anything new.
The above are some of the reasons for being overprotective and there can be many more reasons as well. You need to analyze and think rationally whether it is right to be overprotective.
4. Stop over consoling your child.
Many times when your child is upset or crying we try to over console them by compensating them with different material things. As your intention is not to spoil your child but to make them feel better, it is important to maintain a healthy balance. Talk to them and encourage them. Do not go overboard and buy gifts to make them feel better.
5. Stop managing your child’s friendships.
Many parents force their children to be friends with their family friends and relatives. Though there is no harm in the same, do not force your child to become friends with someone just because you want it. It is important to interfere only when you see that the friendships are becoming harmful and bad. In other cases give your child the freedom to decide who they want to be friends with.
6. Stop checking on your children continuously.
Many parents keep checking on their children continuously. They try to get continuous updates about their children from teachers, tutors, activity teachers etc. Yes, it is important for parents to know about their children but continuously trying to get all the information will do more harm than good.
7. Encourage your children to take age-appropriate decisions.
Parents know the strengths and weaknesses of their children and thus want to influence their child’s decision making. If your child is good in piano and wants to make a career in singing, then parents should allow them to do so. Most times parents do not want their children to branch out into unknown territory. Give your child the freedom to take age-appropriate decisions and encourage them. This will help them to become more confident in the future.
8. Teach children life skills and problem-solving.
Stop being anxious about your children’s problems. Share your concerns with your children and guide them. Talk to them about being careful with electric switches, how to be careful while crossing the road, drug and alcohol abuse, teenage pregnancy in case of teenagers etc. Explain to them the consequences of making wrong decisions.
Teach them problem-solving skills. Help them to tackle peer pressure and teach them life skills such as being self-confident, to think independently, be calm and patient in times of trouble, problem-solving through rational thinking etc.
These are some of the important tips to inculcate in children which in turn will prevent you from becoming overprotective parents. As an overprotective dad or an overprotective child does not build a healthy family, we must encourage and nurture our children to become responsible adults.
Hope you have enjoyed reading this article on How to Stop Being An Overprotective Parent.
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