Responsible Versus Overprotective Parenting

Of course you want to see your child succeed and will work hard to make sure they have all the opportunities they deserve. However, it is important to make sure that in wanting the best for your child that you are not being overprotective. The danger in being overprotective is that your child may not learn how to be responsible for themselves, may not learn that there are natural consequences for their behavior and may not learn the lesson that hard work can pay off. Signs that you may be overprotective of your teenager are:


• You will do whatever it takes to see your child successful

• You make excuses for your teen and blame others for things that go wrong

• You “rescue” your teenager – you bail them out of difficult situations every time

• You are always going out of your way to make your teenager happy

• You minimize problems that your teenager is having or you try to rationalize their behaviors

• You try to always be liked by your teenager and give in to all their requests – even when you don’t agree

• You try to “appease” your teen and rescue them form difficult feelings – you never allow them to sit with uncomfortable feelings

If you notice that you are doing some or all of these things, you may want to consider allowing your teenager to fail sometimes or experiences the real consequences of their decisions so that they learn how to take responsibility for their actions as well as learn how to take action to change situations they do not like instead of always relying on you to do so.



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