As a parent, you are going to feel a certain degree of protectiveness concerning your family. Some of this feeling is going to come from your personal background. For example, how protective your parents were with you makes a difference. The other part of this equation might come from your friends or peers – they probably have their own advice about what constitutes the appropriate amount of protection for your children.
And then there is always seeking advice online or through books and essays that have been written on the topic. But at what point does your natural tendency to be protective become overprotective to a degree that might be unhealthy?
It’s a question that you certainly should ask! What kinds of mistakes should you allow your kids to make? Is there a level of protectiveness where you should consider calling a law enforcement officer or lawyer? And then there is the perpetual consideration these days of how healthy it is to be a helicopter parent. These topics of conversation are all worth thinking about.
Letting Kids Make Mistakes
First of all, when it comes to being protective versus overprotective, you have to decide what kinds of mistakes to let your children make. You have to determine how much failure they should have in their lives. If you keep them from failing at anything, they will be shocked when they turn into adults, and suddenly, they fail at everything. Guiding your children through failure is essential, but that means there has to be some failure in the first place to work with.
When It’s Time To Talk To a Lawyer
Some kinds of protection are less about emotional concepts and more about physical ones. For example, if your child is injured because of negligence on the part of a company or hostility on the part of an individual, your protectiveness will lead you to contact an injury lawyer.
It’s one thing to yell at another parent for letting their kids get in a fight with your kids. It’s another thing if your child is seriously harmed through the negligence of a multinational corporation. As a parent, you quickly recognize the difference in those situations.
Pros and Cons of Helicopter Parents
Do you understand what it means to be a helicopter parent? If you’ve never looked into it, then you might be part of the problem when it comes to this cultural element. Yes, you should protect her children for certain kinds of situations. No, you should not always be around to fix their mistakes for them or never let them fall or fail.
Yes, you should keep an eye on them. No, you should not be so omnipresent in their minds that they think that they can rely on you as they mature as individuals.