What Are The Long-Term Effects Of Overprotective Parenting?

Parenting style has a profound impact on the child's life. Every age and stage of child development may require a different parenting approach. However, a kid's safety is a primary concern in any child development stage. But when it comes to the overprotective parents they are almost obsessed with it.

No matter how good intentions these parents carry while raising the kids, they end up yielding the adverse effects of their overpampered parenting techniques.

Do you possess any characteristic signs of the overprotective parent? Let's see what are the long-term impacts of this style?

Are You An Overprotective Parent?

How do you know about your parenting type? Check out for these signs of overprotective parents.

• You employ a child-centric parenting method keeping the child's safety as your primary concern.
• You constantly micromanage kid's pursuits.
• You are too nosy in your child's actions.
• You spoon-feed your kid at every stage.
• You place your kid in a safe bubble away from the real-world.
• You can't tolerate a kid's mistakes.
• You always console and compensate for the kid's bitter experiences.

Effects Of Overprotective Parenting

Studies show that overprotective parenting can result in the following ways

1. People's Validation Matters A Lot.
2. Kids Lack Their Authenticity.
3. Kids Get Depressed Easily.
4. Low Confidence and Low Self-Esteem.
5. Impulsive Risk-Taking Behaviour.
6. Kids Demand Over Perfectionism.

Now lets looks at these point in detail

People's Validation Matters A Lot

• Children of Protective parents grow up under high pressure of expectations. These parents shower love and care only when their kids follow their advice and opinions. They do not promote kids’ own views and thoughts.
• That's why such kids grow up with people-pleasing tendencies. They believe validity from others is very crucial to get accepted in society. They always fear rejections and disapproval.

Kids Lack Their Authenticity

• In overprotective parenting, parents set strict rules and regulations to discipline their kids. If these rules are not followed kids get punished.
• Apart from that, kids constantly seek validations and approvals of parents. Such kids can't express themselves in fear that they might not get validation. Gradually they lose their authenticity. Unfortunately, such kids don’t know how to be themselves.

Kids Get Depressed Easily

• Protective parents raise oversensitive kids. Oversensitiveness is prone to anxiety and depression.
• When these kids face real-world challenges they feel anxious and depressed. For survival, they need to come out of their comfort zone as no one in real life will pamper them for every little thing.

Low Confidence and Low Self-Esteem

• Constant love and affection of overprotective parents make kids feel unique. Such kids may develop an ungrounded sense of entitlement.
• But in reality, such constant care and support of parents transfer the underlying message that kids are not good enough to handle their own lives.
• Such kids show low self-confidence and low self-worth due to the early age mollycoddling of parents.

Impulsive Risk-Taking Behaviour

• Protective parent's pressure and high-performance demands make kids reserved and fearful.
• However, at a certain point in life, these kids show impulsive high-risk-taking behavior. Psychologically they are trying to soothe their early-age experiences.
• The lack of freedom they felt at an early age triggers impulsive risk-taking behavior.

Kids Demand Over Perfectionism 

• Overprotective parents always need everything perfect. They employ the same thing with the child and kids constantly struggle to keep everything perfect in any situation. 
• The narcissistic traits of these parents may fear the child that if things are not accurate he will get beaten or punished or on an emotional level he may face the withdrawal attention of the parents.
• This conditional approval gives the underlying message that children need to be flawless in order to be loved and trusted. 
• As grown-ups, such kids will act as a perfectionist. Not to mention they will also demand flawlessness from others in every task.

Concluding Thoughts

Children are the most precious treasure for every parent. It is obvious parents want nothing but the best for their kids. In the case of overprotective parents, they need to understand that they can't protect their kids throughout life.

Their actual job is nurturing life-sufficient skills into the kids that can help them face real-world challenges. Too much love and care spoils the child. Ease up your overprotective parenting with a practical life approach.