Study: Helicopter parenting will turn your kid into a brat
“[Too] much direct engagement can come at a cost to kids’ abilities to control their own attention, behavior and emotions.” - NY Post
If you have “focused” children, excessive attention will harm them. However, the same correlation was not found for kids who were unfocused. In a nutshell, make sure your kids are on task for what is important.
Big limitation here; it was ages 4 to 6, so the applicability for all kids is suspect. However, I would guess it’s safe to assume that even for older kids, investing time and effort to get them “on task” will still be a benefit.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
I also got the impression the write up was not understanding the study. Not that they couldn’t understand. Just didn’t bother. These things are always much smaller, less certain, and more nuanced than they sound in the popular media.
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
I can’t figure out whether it was the reporter or the editor who didn’t get what the reporter noted—that it was really those who were already motivated and on task who were having issues. Did they get it, and somebody put a misleading headline and lede in there, or did they get it, and they put it in there anyways? Either way, they sure don’t look very smart.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
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