Be Cognizant of Being Over Protective of Your Kids

Today I wanted to talk about the protection of our children and being able to let go when needed.
Today we are talking about being protective our children. When I talk about this, it is important to know what it means to be protective and what it means to be overprotective. There have been many times when I have seen parents who disagree to the extent of protecting their children, and I have even found J-Mom and I differing on this every now and again. Thus, as parents you must have a discussion while your children are young to determine where that line is for each of you. Every parent is different and there is no right answer regarding this, but there are signs of over protection that you should be aware of and steer away from.
Some questions you should ask yourself include:
  • How far can you child ride their bike without you being concerned about their well being?
  • Can you child go and play in the dirt (getting dirty along the way) without repercussion?
  • If your child starts to cry (or fake cry) do you run to their side or do you take more of the “are you bleeding?” approach.
  • Do your children make choices for themselves or do they always defer to you?
If you answered yes to any (or all) of the above, this does not mean completely that you are overprotective, but it may give you something to pause about as you are thinking about the raising of your children. As the below articles will reflect, providing a safe environment is critical, yet it is very important to provide your kids room to grow and learn in an environment that encourages exploration and (some) risk taking.

So ask yourself the above questions? Do you find yourself to be overprotective? In what ways? What steps will you take to provide your kids more room to make choices and take risks? Do you feel that being overly protective is a negative trait, why or why not?

If you are so inclined please leave your responses in a comment below.  I look forward to your thoughts and comments!

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dadofdivas

I am a dad who works in Higher Education Administration by day and by night a dad to two girls (divas). I was born in Michigan and after some moving around the Midwest due to working for several colleges and universities, I am back living and working in Michigan and loving it! I started Dad of Divas as a way to document my experiences as a father as well as talk about important parenting tips that I have run into in my time being a Dad. As most blogs have, my blog has changed some over the last 2.5 years, but I have to say that I am still enjoying what I am doing and sharing with other parents that are out there. You will notice in my posts that I definitely do not have all of the answers (that’s for sure) but I am always willing to try something new to make my job as a parent easier (if that’s possible). I am so pleased to be a part of the group of revolutionary fathers who are, as I, working each day to be better than they already are, and are doing whatever they can to help their children to be the best that they can be!

One thought on “Be Cognizant of Being Over Protective of Your Kids”

  1. Thanks for this post! It made me reflect on how I am raising and protecting my girl. On the second thought, since I want my child to be independent, I think I am not really being overprotective. When she hurt herself (not so serious situation) and I know it was her fault it happened, I just tell her, see it hurts because you did not follow mommy.  

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