Dr Phil: Extreme Parenting Styles
Which of these parenting styles is worse:
- Hovering and protecting your child, never letting them experience the world?
- Giving them every freedom and letting them find their own way in the world without boundaries?
Amy is a helicopter mom and is afraid of kids’ failure.
The truth is both are extremely dangerous. Children at risk come from these extreme parenting styles. Dr Phil said it’s important to create urgent awareness about how to prepare children for the real world.
Dr Phil: Helicopter Mom Amy
Amy’s paralyzing fear about how scary the world is has forced her to become an obsessed helicopter mom. She is overprotective of her five children. She flosses their teeth for them, does their homework and has crazy fire drills where the kids have to jump out of the windows in the middle of the night. Her kids don’t even know that she comes in at night and puts her hand on their chests to make sure they are breathing.
Her son Chad was kicked off the baseball team because of her behavior. When he was benched, she threatened the coach’s family and wrote a letter to the newspaper about how they were treating children in the league.
When her kids go to sleepovers, she does background checks on the parents to make sure it’s a safe place for her kids. She then calls and texts them all night to keep tabs on them. Her kids have lost a lot of friends because of her.
Dr Phil: Mom Does Kids’ Homework
Amy rewrote her son Robert’s essay for him and he caught her when he came home. He begged her to let him learn and to do his own homework. Robert said he is in middle school and falling behind because his mom does his work for him. Amy said she is afraid for her kids to get bad grades and hates to see them disappointed.
She told her kids they are not allowed to go to college because they have to stay at home with her. Dr. Phil believes she is parenting from fear. Amy called this an “ah-ha moment.” She wants to feel okay in the moment and won’t let her children fail.
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