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THE DANGERS OF OVER-
PARENTINGKnowing When to Let Your Kids Think for
ThemselvesANOTHER GOOD WAY TO strengthen a relationship is to avoid what we
call over-parenting. Over-parenting consists of unnecessary
corrective, cautionary, or disciplinary comments, and can result in a
parent forcing unnecessary comments down a kid’s throat, making the
child feel aggravated and put down. While sympathetic listening
encourages independence, over-parenting discourages it. Parent
squawks, kid “listens.”
A while back, I was in a grocery store standing in front of the dairy
case. As I was trying to decide which kind of milk to buy, I noticed a
mother with her daughter, about nine years old, who was pushing a
cart and coming around the corner toward me. As they came closer,