Hyper Parenting: More isn't better

It doesn’t matter if your gen. X, Y, millennial, or boomer. We all share a common responsibility of creating a healthy environment to raise our children… but what if the biggest issue isn’t external but parents themselves? Over the next few entries I’d like to consider the future of kids.

Hyper Parenting is becoming a dangerous trend, rather than allowing kids to make their own choices parents instead have created schedules for every aspect of their childs life. This trend began with the discovery that our brains make more connections in the first years of our life compared to any other time of our lives. Business capitalized on this, creating hundreds of systems with the objective of “training baby” Who doesn’t want to give their child an edge in this competitive world? Although the best intentions these super parents are causing problems that will affect their child well into adulthood.

Children need to lose! I can’t remember when the transition happened but in elementary school we stopped getting first, second, and third instead we got “participation ribbons.” No one was cut from the team and everyone got equal opportunity. When I was younger I would challenge my dad to chess; I lost every single game because he refused to let me win. However, I kept trying and because I tried I learned, without failure and competition kids miss out on valuable skills needed later in the workforce such as persistence, problem solving, and determination.

Generation Y it’s up to us! We we’re raised by hyper parents, but we don’t need to replicate their strategy. We can go back to letting kids be kids, un-structured play, win & lose, freedom to choose and the trust to explore. It’s important to involve children in the choice of what activities they would like to do rather than choosing activities that we feel are necessary to accomplish the “perfect child image.” Humans are imperfect and that’s what makes us unique, by admitting to an imperfection in a child we can truly admire their success.