Overparenting

Lil John is 19 month old today... Perhaps I failed to mention that he was born at 8:08 pm on 8-8-08. No it wasn't planned that way! Trust me...

We are fortunate enough that Camille can stay at home with him as her classes are at night, but we also knew it would be good for him to be around other kids and interact and learn. Daycare wasn't needed or required, so Camille took the time to look at some alternatives... which lead us to a Little Sprouts program at the City of Lakes Waldorf School in Minneapolis. John loves the time in the school, around the other kids and parents that are actively involved in the process.

Since work prevents me from attending the classes, I pour through all the information they send home to learn about his experiences and understand the philosophies. Recently, they shared an article on Overparenting that was published by Time Magazine. The magazine talked about helicopter parents that fly in, protect and fight all the battles for the kids. Here is a link to the article.http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1940395,00.html

As parents, we want the best for our kids, for them to be safe, and for them to be the best at everything we weren't. I think it is critical we all take a step back, breathe, and let our kids be kids. If we don't allow them to learn from their mistakes, to get the bruises of life, how will they ever survive college or worse, corporate America? Our kids need to learn to problem solve, to get themselves out of jams and be aware of what's happening around them. If I respond to John's groan every time a ball gets stuck under the chair, soon his reaction is to sit and complain until I solve his issue. Instead, I encourage him and help him solve the issues at hand so he learns. We want our kids to be strong, independent, make decisions and most importantly weigh the consequences of those decisions. Flying in, solving the problem, only hurts our children in the long run... let them learn!