Naturally Healthy Parenting The parent's guide to a healthy family
Children grow up to become teenagers and adults and move from total dependence during the initial stages to experience some amount of independence and greater mobility during their teenage when they learn to drive a car.
However, some over protective parents tend to restrict their independence and also feel justified in doing so because of the dangers such as alcohol, drugs, violence in schools, pedophiles and teenage pregnancies that children are exposed to during this stage of their lives. However, parents must realize that overprotective parenting has certain side effects. Some of them are as follows:
Children May Lose Self-Confidence
The message that overprotective parents convey to their children is that they cannot handle the challenges of life on their own. This can seriously affect the confidence that children develop as they go through the growing up process. They may even lose their self-confidence completely as they start thinking that their parents don’t believe that they have the ability to tackle life’s problems on their own. Such children will find it difficult to succeed in life if parents don’t continue to support them.
False Impression of Control
Some parents tend to believe that they will be in a better position to ensure the safety of their children by being overprotective. This may be a false impression that such parents carry in their minds. This is because some children may start rebelling as they grow older, shattering their impression about control.
Appetite for Risk-taking
When children reach teenage years, they spend some time out of the reach of their parents. This freedom encourages them to take more risks when compared with children who do not have overprotective parents. The reason as to why this happens is that children of parents who are overprotective may not have developed the sense of taking responsibility for their actions.
Low Self-esteem
The self-esteem of children of overprotective parenting can be very low. This is because such parents don’t allow their children to face challenges on their own. Children gain self-esteem partly because of overcoming challenges by themselves. Overprotective parents deny such opportunities to their children
