Give Your Kids a Break - Let Them Do the Thinking

Have you noticed more and more kids are having difficulty figuring things out for themselves? Could it be they’re being robbed of the opportunity to do so?

A mom I know has helped with registration at the local high school for the past 10 years. This year she saw a whole new breed of parents. Rather than the kids signing themselves up, the parents were making all of the decisions.

When the students were being assigned lockers, one dad who was there to “help” his son, insisting he, the dad, did not like the location of the assigned locker. When the son said he thought it was fine, Dad turned to him and said, “Shut up, you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

This was just one of the many things this mom witnessed. She went home exhausted, and very sad: sad for a generation of kids who are being robbed of the opportunity to figure things out for themselves, and sad for our country.

When parents do all the thinking they rob kids of the opportunity to learn from their mistakes and send the message that the kids are not capable of figuring things out for themselves. Give your kids the can-do message: Let them do the thinking. When they learn from their mistakes they build character, strength, and confidence.

© Love & Logic Institute