In my entry yesterday and comments following, I touched on a couple of parenting ideas that seem to be pretty up and coming these days--the first being helicopter parents, and the second being free range kids. Quick summary: helicopter parents are super involved in everything their kids do, and free-range kids have parents who believe in letting them have lots of opportunities to explore the world without Mom and Dad hovering over them.
There's a lot of repercussions for kids when parents and teachers become really entrenched in one particular parenting or teaching strategy. I think these two ideas are a perfect example of that--how much is too much involvement and at what age? It's a question that I think most parents struggle with. Honestly, once my kids became old enough and responsible enough to monitor some of their own behavior, my biggest concern was that someone would think I was unreasonable in my expectations and judge or punish me.
I linked a blog to this one on free range kids (thanks to my good friend Adriana!). One of the things that's most frightening about this approach is, as I mentioned yesterday, there are increasing legal ramifications for parents who attempt to give kids a bit more "free range". In my own experience, I have never seen a child who has blossomed under an overly-involved parent. My experiences in working with all types of children have led me to believe that although some children definitely need more supervision and guidance, it's critical for parents to figure out where the line is to give their children some range of motion--some room to experience life for themselves, and become autonomous individuals.
Check out the link, thanks for reading, and click on the sponsors! Also--I've now enabled this blog to take comments from anyone--not just blogger members--so fire away!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment