The author of a popular New York Times op-ed says that parents serve themselves and their children by doing less. Is it true?
How do you approach raising your children?
An article in the New York Times has sparked a lot of debate surrounding this connotative question. The article is titled “Parents Should Ignore Their Children More Often” by Darby Saxbe, a clinical psychologist and professor of psychology at the University of Southern California.
This article discusses how in today’s society, children are at the center of our attention and parents are constantly engaging and entertaining their children. Parents may feel guilty if their children get bored with daily chores, so parents try to keep their children occupied with “fun” childish things.
Saxbe suggests parents serve themselves and their children with less effort. The article says the professor’s lesson is to let children learn by looking and observing. If children learn to tolerate boredom, parents can raise patient and imaginative children.
KARE 11 Sunrise anchor and parent Alicia Lewis decided to look into the differences between “helicopter” and “free range” parenting styles. Free-range is a hands-off approach.
Parenting coach Lisa Banage, who owns BratBusters Parenting, said most parents try to play the “asking parent,” but there’s a time and place for every parenting style.
“If I’m at the airport, I’m a helicopter parent, but if I’m at school and I’m having a problem with a teacher, maybe they don’t like the teacher or something and I just stay out of it, you deal with it.” “I don’t get involved in that. ”
If you want to learn more about parenting styles and how they affect children, check out this Mayo Clinic article that describes the four types: authoritarian, authoritarian, permissive, and neglectful.
