How Overprotecting Our Kids Now Is Storing Up Anxiety Problems

Letting go of perfection can lead to more resourceful kids.

It was my first day in big school. I was six and nervous but excited, and I even wore a dress for my grand entrance. Like most people, this event has a special place in my memory.

My mum and I cycled to school, but we were late. I peddled my little legs off with my mum soothing me not to worry; it was only just half-past eight. As we rocked up to the schoolyard-flustered, all the kids had gone in. I felt clammy with panic and cried with huge sobs, as only six-year-olds can.

As I recall, this wasn’t the only time I was late, hadn’t done my homework, or forgot to bring a few coins in for the charity of the month.

When my mum and dad were young, overprotective parenting was only for the select few. Most parents didn’t have the luxury to overthink their kids’ lives. As long as children were fed, washed, and did ok at school, parents did their job.

Society was different in the eighties. Before the Internet, there was no platform for parental navel-gazing and fretting about relatively small things.

There was no Instagram with picture-perfect families, not a hair out of place or mismatched socks insight. Or Facebook groups with helpful suggestions from parents who you’d never in a million years socialize with, out in the real world. No What’s App class groups…

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