Parents, Who Love Their Children Too Much, Is That Even Possible?
Let’s begin by setting the scene…..and ask can you Love Their Children Too Much
We have all been to that specific families house, that when you turn up you instantly & invariably ask if “Do you run a preschool?” Their reply was something like ” No. it just we like to have a play area,” They had matted the floors with rugs covered in letters of the alphabet, a play table in every room and even in the master bedroom there had been placed a Lego table and games for their child. You find the mother wishing to make their little sweetheart Kingpin or the Queen bee. — because all the other children just loved going to their house.” That will be Gemma & Tyler’s house…
The family dynamics.
Gemma devoted more than just her home to her child Tyler. “My whole life was about him,” she would say. “Every little thing I did, I wondered how it would affect my son’s life.” But as Tyler turned three and then 4. His mother slowly started to realized she’d overdone it. “A lot of the things I’d thought were cute — like always asking to be first — began to seem bossy and controlling,” Gemma said. “Tyler wanted everything his way.”
It’s the kind of scenario that has a growing number of experts worried saying us as parents. Are we hurting our children by expecting too little and giving too much — too many toys, help and leeway in how they can behave. Trying to protect them from adversity, we’re depriving them of the chance to learn coping skills. By not setting appropriate limits, we’re undermining our children’s character development. I worry about how this new & young generation will handle the challenges of adulthood.”
Problems manifest in different ways.
Others experts who work with children observe the same problem manifested in different ways. Saying they see it in far too children & it is becoming the norm rather than the occasional. A self-explanatory one that everyone can see is many children now being significantly overweight kids. These poor children were kept on bottles long after they should be weaned. Delaying the weaning process is so harmful & unnecessary. Children should be off bottles by 12 to 15 months. It is when they tend to become good eaters. Many parents are not giving them the chance to do this.
So many parents can’t say no to their kids — they’re afraid their children won’t like them if they do. They love their children too much.
Growing concerns
Some parents, too, are growing concerned. “In trying to be so loving and accepting, you wonder, are you leading your kids to believe the world defers to them in every way?” says Pamela Evans. A writer who lives in Maplewood, NJ, a mother of two kids, 3-year-old George and 4-year-old Sophie. She told me about a trip they had taken recently.
“We visited an Amish town a while ago, and I got so depressed. Everything written about the Amish suggests their children grow up with a kind of stability, peacefulness, and patience. Meanwhile, we’re driving around, and our kids are screaming — they want juice, they want this and that. I turned and asked my husband, ‘Is it too late to become Amish?'”
Pushover Parenting
Of course, researchers can’t measure whether kids overindulged today the way they can quantify things like school performance in a recent study conducted of some 1,100 parents and 650 teenagers from upper-middle-class families around the country. Nearly 60% of parents reported their kids were at least somewhat spoiled.
About half the boys and two-thirds of the girls in the study agreed. How does this compare to previous generations?
Survey results
In 2002, a Child survey was carried out with 2,400 parents with children ages eight, and under, 91% of parents said discipline is less strict now than when they were growing up, and 80% didn’t think that’s such a good thing. “We’re trying to be different kinds of parents,”
It found parents to be stating that “We want open communication with our kids, not a dictatorial rule. We want, to some extent, to be their friends. But sometimes that desire comes at a price: not being able to set a limit when a child needs it.”
Parents may have more opportunity to be overindulgent than at any other time in western society history. Increasingly, women are having children later in life and having fewer of them. In 1976, a woman in her early 40s had an average of 3.1 children. In 2000, the last year for which figures are available, a woman the same age had an average of 1.9 kids. The upshot: families are smaller. It follows that parents can concentrate more attention on each child — and more of their resources.
How it was before
Years ago, pampering children wasn’t a possibility for many people. Now, many middle-class parents outfit their kids with their child TV, phone line, and cell phone. From a child’s perspective, the world starts to revolve around him. There’s the expectation that parents will provide these things without any contribution from the child.” 40% of parents in a study said their children had a TV in their room. 50% said their kids had a phone. With 28% of parents reported their teenagers had a personal cell phone. Other surveys show that even 25% of preschoolers have a TV in their room.
Dramatic workforce changes in the last few decades may contribute to a culture of overindulgence in another way. More two-income families and single working parents mean more people are juggling kids and work. “Parents feel guilty for having been away all day,” says Jerry Brodlie, Ph.D., head of psychology at Greenwich Hospital in Connecticut. “Kids can ask for whatever they want, and parents give in because they want their time together to be all positive.”
Pampering at What Cost?
One obvious but dangerous way to avoid harmful indulging is by setting firm limits. That means giving children rules and structure. Saying no and sticking to it. It also involves teaching kids acceptable ways to vent any frustration they may feel. The issue of setting limits generally arises in the toddler stage: This stage can be a tough transition. In infancy, you can’t give a baby too much love. Then you have to change; you have to start saying no. I vividly remember with my children how sad that was.
As difficult as it is, limit-setting is probably one of the most loving things a parent can do. In our hurry-up society, parents do give in because it’s easier and faster. Yet this causes problems in the long run. Kids find security in limits and consistency. If they can get away with something one day, but they’re punished for it the next, they don’t know where the boundaries are.
Parent roles – jobs here
It’s also a parent’s job to teach children how to delay gratification. All too often when our kids are frustrated, we buy them something to appease them. This rule-bending becomes a very slippery slope. Early on it’s just a simple, ‘I want ice cream, and I’ll yell and scream until I get some” Many years later, it may become, ‘If I’m picked up by the police, my parents will buy a good attorney and get me out.'” Consider the research: Recent studies at Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA, found that teenagers of loving but overly permissive and indulgent parents are more likely to do poorly in school. Use drugs or alcohol than those whose mothers and fathers encourage independence and responsibility in the context of firm guidelines.
Then there’s the smother-love phenomenon. It starts with little things, simple things like the child is learning to walk, but the parents still carry her. They feed her, even though she’s showing she wants to do it herself what they should be doing instead, as a child shows more independence. They are encouraging this behaviour and instilling a sense of capability and self-confidence.
As kids grow older
As kids grow older, parents should also let them experience the consequences of their mistakes. Nora Miller*, a southern California elementary school principal, observes that today’s parents seem convinced their children can do no wrong. She recalls an incident when two of her second-graders made fun of a little girl in special ed. “Her mom was standing nearby and heard it,” Miller says. “I had the boys come in, and I asked them to think, ‘What if someone did this to my sister?'” That led to a thoughtful discussion, and the boys stayed in for recess. Later, however, the boys’ mums got together and decided there was no way their sons would have done that. They called the mother of the girl who had been teased, and they came in for conferences.
In fairness, not every expert believes today’s generation is unusually spoiled. In all timelines, there’s always been a tendency for older generations to be critical of those coming next. “You can’t make generalizations about such a complex topic,” argues Peter Walsh, M.D., a psychiatrist at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City. “You’ll always have kids doing self-indulgent stuff, but the proportion hasn’t changed radically from one generation to another.”
Modern parents
Even those who’ve sounded the alarm are quick to stress that modern parents are doing many things right. I don’t think we should go back to being stereotypical 1950s families. When parents were more emotionally distant, It’s great that our kids confide in us and we have fun with them. But too many parents have the mistaken notion that you can’t have emotional closeness and set limits at the same time. Love your child too much can be difficult.
Unspoiling Begins at Home
When it comes to curbing the impulse to indulge, experts are now urging parents to think about the message their actions are sending. When you have to choose because your child is pushing to watch a video or begging for a lollipop before dinner, ask yourself what you want him to learn from the interaction? Do you want it to be that he can always get something if he asks for it enough?” Do you find you love your children too much?
Another important strategy: Dont overlook the benefit of chores. Us as parents tend to forget that responsibility is a learned skill. Believing that when children are older, they’ll magically know it or schools will teach them is not acceptable. Kids need to take on more responsibility based on their age gradually. Otherwise, they get a sense that nothing required of them. They go to school to be educated, not learn essential life skills, that our jobs are parents to teach and show them this.
Know thyself
Parents should also keep the ancient adage “Know thyself” in mind. In many cases, when moms or dads bend over backwards, it’s to give kids things they didn’t have as children or to protect them from hurts they once felt. However, we are reparenting ourselves through our kids, which is wrong for everyone.
That insight resonates for a mum, Natalie. For her daughter’s fifth birthday, Natalie had racked her brain to try to top the party she’d thrown when Katie turned 4. Eventually, she hired a “mad scientist” who performed experiments with dry ice and other items. It was when my husband went with Katie to another child’s birthday party where he comes back, and he told me there was a clown, a popcorn machine, musicians, a whole series of events. Natalie expressed that she felt jealous. She felt like, ‘Oh my God, I’ve failed — what can I do next year?'” Admitting her daughter would probably have been happy with a less lavish affair in their backyard. It was actually about her self-esteem being invested in this as she said. “When I was young, I worried about whether other kids would come to my parties.” Love you as well as love your children.
When a parent parents – children improve
Most children respond when parents mend their ways. Gemma, Tylers Mum, changed her approach and saw the results reflected in her son. Her wake-up call came when she fell in love. “Once some of my focus was on someone else, I could see how 100% of my life had been about Tyler,” she says. “I’d been treating our family as a democracy. Without enough acknowledgement that I’m the adult and he’s the child.”
Now she’s agonizing less over denying her son things. Recently, for example, Gemma put her foot down and banned TV on weekdays. “It took a week of him crying and screaming, but I stuck to my guns, and now he just plays with his toys,” says Gemma. “he’s becoming much more flexible. I think in some ways he feels freer — now that I’ve given him more boundaries.”
The greatest moment
It was a great moment to hear these thoughts & that she could see the positive come out of the negative. Change is always hard. That is why we haven’t done it in the first place. Persevering with it and making a difference to your child’s life and future is sooo essential, Our roles as parents are to teach them to believe in and accomplish their dreams and goals. The best way we can do that is handing them the reigns, knowing they have the best start & guidance possible to allow this to occur. Let not Love Their Children Too Much
So to help you better understand your child, love your children too much and their sleep then book a call with myself, and we can discuss this. I offer a free 15 min introductory call where we can chat sleep, behaviour and I can help you with your belief in yourself as a great parent. My role within the program is to support you be the best parent you can be to and for your child.