The Phenomenon of "Hyper Parenting."

This week we watched a video called “Hyper Parents and Coddled Kids.” I found the video really interesting and thought it had a lot of really good points. It discussed how in recent years there has been an increased trend in “hyper parenting.” Hyper parenting is when parents are over-protective and over-ruling in their children’s lives. The video talked about how kids have and over dependence on their parents to make decisions. It talked about some things like parents calling their kids bosses, and I think this is an extreme, but I do notice it in our present society. I notice that parents can be over protective of their kids, leading to some over dependence on them in their adolescence and early adulthood. Some parents are scared to let their children experience anything because they don’t want to put their kids in danger. I think that this leads to adults who are scared to take risks and don’t understand the real world. A parent can’t keep their children from every danger and I don’t think they should because it robs them of the learning experience.

I asked my parents if they thought their generation was less dependent on their parents then mine was, and they both thought that we are. They said that their parents still helped them out a lot, but my generation gets more help than they did. When I look at my own childhood and my life so far my parent were and still are very present in my life but not in a bad way. They didn’t parent to the extent of hyper parenting. They were always there to help me, but the always let me make my own decisions. They also let me experience a lot of different things in my childhood, and I was able to learn through my own experiences and mistakes. I think that this is very important in childhood.

We were asked to reflect upon why we thought that hyper parents and coddled kids are appearing at this time in history. I think that as technology develops, parent’s ability to “coddle” their children does as well. The video talked about electronic devices, such as cell phones, lead to this phenomenon. Now that everyone had cell phones and email it is much easier for parents to be in contact with their children at all times. We also talked about how our conception of what childhood actually is has changed a great deal throughout our history. We have a concept of childhood now as a time of learning and growth, which I agree with. I disagree with the idea that this means parents need to interfere more. The video discussed how children have the ability to learn on their own from their experiences and environment. Having said all of this, I also have to remember that I am not a parent and that I don’t know how much my thoughts would change on this topic if I do one day become a parent. I do know that my parents were great role models to me, and I feel as though I can talk to them about anything. I would want to model myself as a parent after them.