fail. Parents feel obligated if a child makes a mistake to fix it for them. The world is not a perfect place. Mistakes are supposed to be made, and they are supposed to be fixed. Mistakes are learning opportunities, if children don’t learn how to fix their own mistakes they cannot develop fully. Kids are being molded into copies of their parents. One aspect of over involvement is decision making. Parents become concerned with their child’s safety and they make decisions for them. Freakonomics provides this example: a girl named Molly has two best friends named Amy and Imani. Molly’s parents are aware that that Amy’s parents own a gun. Due to this they don’t allow her to go to her friend Amy’s house, she can only go to Imani’s house. Imani has a swimming pool and Molly’s parents feel that Molly is safer playing with Imani in the pool. “But most of us are, like Molly’s parents, terrible risk assessors,” (Dubner and Levitt 150). The gun obviously seems more dangerous but statistics show that more kids (under ten) drown each year than are killed by guns. Another issue in the over involvement of parents is the fact that their kids don’t grow up. If children always have their parents to bail them out, then how will they become independent? Kids have to learn to take responsibility for their actions. More and more parents are writing their kid’s college applications and essays. Some parents take up so much responsibility that they include themselves in their child’s plans, for example “We’re applying to Harvard,” (Sue Shellenbarger). This quote shows a parent who is including themselves in their child’s life. Now if the parent is the one doing all the work who is the college really accepting? When the student goes off to college are they really ready? Do they feel like they have accomplished a lot? The college has accepted the parent, the student isn’t ready and they aren’t proud of themselves. This can lead to depression among developing students. Parents love their children, and children love their parents. Some parents become too preoccupied with their own children’s lives. Some of these parents are arrogant; they feel a need to be the best. For this reason they help their kids too much. Other parents are insecure they feel that they are not happy with the way their life has gone. Due to this parents try to relive their life through their children, controlling every aspect of the child’s life as if it was their own. This over involvement has led to children who don’t make their own decisions, don’t grow up and have some form of depression.
Works Cited
Dubner, Stephen J. and Steven D. Levitt. Freakonomics. New York: HarperCollins, 2005. Print.
Shellenbarger, Sue. W3.lhps.org. Lake Highland Preparatory School and The Wall Street Journal. April 24, 2005. Web. December 19, 2012.