Parents who make their kids do too much

Parents also increasingly struggle to say 'no' to their children and try to act as their equal rather than their boss.

Parents also increasingly struggle to say 'no' to their children and try to act as their equal rather than their boss.

Published Dec 3, 2014

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London - Parents are increasingly adopting a “spreadsheet” approach to bringing up children and treating them as friends instead of asserting their authority, according to a leading psychologist.

Modern parenting styles – including an unwillingness to say no to children – may be doing more harm than good, Professor Tanya Byron warned head teachers.

Some parents project their own ideas about success onto their children and force them to lead over-scheduled lives filled with a range of activities, said Professor Byron, who has been a clinical psychologist for 25 years and featured on the BBC series House Of Tiny Tearaways.

This “spreadsheet” approach leads to children being pushed in directions that “bear no resemblance to what they feel or want for themselves”.

Parents also increasingly struggle to say “no” to their children and try to act as their equal rather than their boss, she added.

These “friend-parents” are leaving youngsters ill-equipped for the real world and forcing schools to step in to lay down boundaries.

Addressing the Girls’ Schools Association, Professor Byron said: “The problem for a lot of children is that their parents haven’t said no since they were little so by the time they get to be a teenager they’re b***ered.” - Daily Mail

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