Manny the Manny
I am a male nanny ("manny") with 11+ years of experience in taking care of children, as well as training parents and other caregivers. I enjoy everything about children, especially when they share their chocolate milk with me. Most importantly, I'm here to help. Ask me a question or send me an email.
(The video embed code worked when I tested it, but in case it’s not working for you, here’s a direct link.)
Yesterday, I wrote about the perils of overparenting. This morning, serendipitously, there was a segment on “Today” about this very topic. Maybe Natalie Morales has been reading! (OK, probably not, although the two of us are acquainted.)
In the above video, psychologist Madeline Levine talks to Morales about the components of overparenting and the potential pitfalls. She describes three broad parenting acts that are demonstrative of overparenting and can hinder a child’s personal and social development:
- Doing something for a child that she can do for herself.
- Doing something for a child that she canalmostdo for herself. Just like I discussed yesterday, Dr. Levine describes the concept of a “successful failure,” in which the child makes fails to do something but learns from that failure. While our natural instinct is to help a child do something, our help may not actually be all that helpful.
- Setting boundaries with a child in such a way that the parent’s needs become confused with those of the child. This is the kind of slippery slope that leads to parents being involved in their child’s salary negotiations, like I wrote about yesterday.
So, if you don’t believe my cautions about the dangers of helicopter parenting, perhaps some empirical words of wisdom will help persuade you.
Madeline Levine, you are my new parenting hero.
