Over Protection is no Protection - The Learning Child
Saturday, September 29, 2007
I know a mom with a 16 month old daughter who just learned to crawl. The mom is an attentive, loving and devoted woman, but she is paralyzed with fear that her daughter will do something dangerous and be injured. Because she is a friend and not a client I don't offer her advice unless she asks for it, but at times I have to bite my tongue.
Children learn by doing. They learn more from their falls than they do from their successes. And when we protect them to the point of preventing them from trying new things we are preventing them from going into and working through some very important developmental stages in their life.
Generally I see this happening more with female children than with male children. Perhaps it is the cultural stereotype of teaching boys to be tough, and training little girls to be quiet and ladylike. Whatever the reason, all children regardless of their gender need to be allowed to experiment, and occasionally fall. When they do they will determine what they need to do differently next time to prevent themselves from falling.
If children aren't allowed to learn by trial and error they will never learn how to walk through life with courage and self confidence. By protecting our children from getting a scrape or two we are crippling them for life.
Children learn by doing. They learn more from their falls than they do from their successes. And when we protect them to the point of preventing them from trying new things we are preventing them from going into and working through some very important developmental stages in their life.
Generally I see this happening more with female children than with male children. Perhaps it is the cultural stereotype of teaching boys to be tough, and training little girls to be quiet and ladylike. Whatever the reason, all children regardless of their gender need to be allowed to experiment, and occasionally fall. When they do they will determine what they need to do differently next time to prevent themselves from falling.
If children aren't allowed to learn by trial and error they will never learn how to walk through life with courage and self confidence. By protecting our children from getting a scrape or two we are crippling them for life.
Labels: children, courage, education, family, kids, learning, overprotective, parenting, protect, safety, self confidence