Battling overprotective and laissez faire tendencies.
Backstory
When it comes to parenting, it is so hard to definitively know when to get in front of things and when to let them unfold on their own. I know I often romanticize the "unsupervised for hours" memories from my own childhood, and yet, if a parent isn't 100% present in today's society, they are chastised for being neglectful. How long can you go without jumping in if you are waiting for a natural consequence to occur? What is the balance between supportive and over-involved? A friend of mine recently talked about how much pressure she felt to always "be there": attend every event or game, provide food, ask questions of teachers and college counselors, enrich children's lives with supplemental activities and camps... And if they do ALL those things, you have to help them manage the stress, take things off their plate like household chores. But then, they go to college and don't know how to do anything for themselves. Where's the line? by lillybrook in Six-Word Memoirs on Dec 10, 2012 | 
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Comments
notjustagirlintheworld says,
funny my husband is quick to condemn my laissez faire parenting but I really do believe in the blessings of a skinned knee. At work and at home I'm a fan pushing the decision making down whenever possible.lillybrook says,
That's me, too. Mostly. Easier to be that way with the three year old, and the 16 year old somehow. But the one in Middle School... such a painful age. He'll have plenty of skinned knees! (BTW, I love Wendy Mogel -- nice reference).