Parents: More important than ever – Parent Information Zoom Evenings
Towards the end of last term and the beginning of the new term we hosted two Parent Information Evenings where Joy Anasta, a well-respected psychotherapist, counsellor, mediator and parent coach, spoke to us via Zoom. Joy spoke with us regarding the challenges that we face as parents and provided us with some strategies that can support us during these times.
One of the interesting things she spoke about was over indulgent parenting, which is where parents give things to their children to suit the parent’s needs and not the child’s needs. Some examples of these include allowing children to have unlimited access to computer time, without requiring them to help at home, not requiring children to use please and thank you, buying children the best of the best in order to make the parents seem successful and allowing children to watch movies that are not classified for them.
While at the time it seems right to give children what they want and when they want it, over indulgent parenting can have serious ramifications for the children. As they grow they find it difficult to learn from and bounce back from mistakes or failures which leads them to develop feelings of shame. This becomes an ongoing cycle resulting in children developing addictions or fear and anxiety. To prevent this from happening it is important that we as parents set boundaries and rules and implement consequences when they are not followed, negotiate with them and encourage them to work for what they want and teach them the difference between a need and a want.
Kim Thomas
Middle Years Coordinator
