Let Kids JUST play!
Are you a helicopter parent?
Do you not leave your child alone?
Does your child have to be in a supervised activity at all times?
Are you afraid about everything that surrounds your child?
Are you over the top, extremely paranoid about what your child does, and who comes near your child?
It’s time to STOP! Take a breath and take a step back.
Parents are going crazy trying to bubble wrap their children. Trying to protect them from everything, or trying to expose them to the perfect combination of activities to maximize their potential with all external elements controlled for them.
Stop, Just stop. Let kids be kids.
Understand that not everyone in this world is a bad person. Understand that there is something to be said, and a huge educational opportunity in just letting kids have free time, to explore and just be.
This helicopter mentality is not limited to just small children. This week we had a parent register their 17 yearold daughter for tutoring. This parent was so unbelievably scared of everything she decided not to get tutoring, because she couldn’t trust anything or anyone that came near her daughter. She wanted over the top answers to questions about everything before making any kind of decision about her daughter getting some math help. She didn’t allow her daughter to have a math tutor, an amazing math tutor, because her desire to ‘protect’ her daughter overshadowed any shred of common sense. At 17 her daughter will be going away to university in less than a year, and making a million decisions without her parents controlling her. Her daughter will be meeting, dating, partying, studying and drinking with all kinds of strangers, people her mom will not have an opportunity to ID and interrogate….. is her almost adult aged daughter equipped to be able to make smart decisions and watch out for herself? Or has she sheltered her so much that this kid will make the worst decisions come Day 1 of Frosh Week???
Let kids play… allow children freedom.
Mike Lanza is an author based out of California. He has a whole blog dedicated to letting kids play, and giving them freedom, check it out here: http://playborhood.com/mike-lanza-author