The Movement against "Over-Parenting"

 “The insurgency goes by many names — slow parenting, simplicity parenting, free-range parenting — but the message is the same: Less is more; hovering is dangerous; failure is fruitful. You really want your children to succeed? Learn when to leave them alone. When you lighten up, they'll fly higher. We're often the ones who hold them down.”
-Nancy Gibbs, “The Case Against Over-Parenting,” Time Magazine, November 30, 2009

I couldn’t resist picking up the Time magazine with the cover showing a kid with puppet strings and the title  “The Case Against Over-Parenting.”  I knew this was something I needed to read.  I had never heard the term “Over-Parenting” before, but I knew right away what it was, because I often find myself saying and doing things for my kids that I KNOW are too much. 

Click to read the article: “The Case Against Over-Parenting” by Nancy Gibbs.

The article led me to start my research on this new “insurgency.”  I started with Lenore Skenazy’s book Free-Range Kids:  Giving Our Children the Freedom We Had Without Going Nuts with Worry.   I had many “ah ha” moments reading Skenazy’s book.