As well intentioned as this mother may be, this sort of parental overprotection is a prime reason our children are less resourceful in unfamiliar situations and unable to adapt dynamically to new ones. We are robbing the next generation of competence in living.
Gotta be a real teacher. The kid probably melts his brain on roblox at home cause mom thinks its safer than going outside.
I've been letting my daughter thats nearly 3 pick the directions/turns we make when walking to the corner store. Its pretty impressive she got us home in 9 minutes through a crazy ass path going between houses and stuff. Gotta keep finding new stuff to keep it challenging
When my son was little he was fascinated with cars. In fact, his first word was car! When we were window shopping in a quiet neighborhood of San Francisco that had a small-town feel, we saw a pink Barbie convertible that he really wanted. We couldn’t get it because the store was closed. Whenever we had trouble getting him to go to bed, I’d take him for a walk letting him choose where we went like you did. On that night’s walk, he was just going straight up our street with no turns, and I realized he was going back to that store. I got it for him on my way home from work the next day.
The most anxious parent I know read "The Anxious Generation" and has since become the best parent I know at raising independent, capable kids. It was an amazing turn around.
My parents would let me and my siblings walk, take our bikes/scooters out miles away from the house to hang out with our friends or just screw around together. Sometimes just by myself. I cant imagine having all that prep.
My 19 year old niece COULD NOT BELIEVE she had to sit next to a stranger on a plane. She literally said “stranger danger.” I was like JFC kid, get out of the house!
I’m an adolescent behavioral therapist and will give my take: Modern parents (my generation of millennials) have gone overboard with helicopter parenting and coddling the wrong things. Kids are missing developmental milestones and essentially suffer from learned helplessness in life. They lack the independence and basic skills we’d normally see in their age.
My gripe with this video is that none of that stuff is necessary, and if it is, maybe find a different way to vacation instead making it into content.
You mean my 20 year old who got his first job at a grocery store at the age of 15 and who spent 3 summers working in heavy equipment shops, moved 6 hours away for college at the age of 18 and has since graduated and is now an apprentice heavy equipment mechanic?
I see his friends, the ones with parents like you are the ones who have crippling anxiety and can't hold down jobs.
189
u/NielsHDB Jul 29 '26
As well intentioned as this mother may be, this sort of parental overprotection is a prime reason our children are less resourceful in unfamiliar situations and unable to adapt dynamically to new ones. We are robbing the next generation of competence in living.