“Why are my parents so overprotective?”
Teens I know (my own included) ask this all the time, with a roll of their eyes, arms folded across their chest. They are annoyed, frustrated, feel like their parents don’t trust them.
So why do parents today tend to “overprotect” their kids? Is is because we don’t trust you? We want to make your life miserable? We want to do all we can to make your teen years as dull as possible?
Believe it or not – no. None of the above.
Some of you reading this may babysit. When you do, are you careful with that child? Do you let her run around with scissors or hop up to the stove and fry up a burger? No way! you know you are responsible for her. And you know you won’t get paid – or asked to babysit again – if you’re irresponsible.
That’s how parents feel. But times a thousand. We are responsible before God for you. It’s scary! And we want to do a good job. Sometimes, we get carried away. Sometimes we drive you crazy. But it really is done out of love for you because you are precious and we don’t want anything bad to happen to you.
I know that when you’re a teenager, life sometimes seems to go in slow motion. But for your parents, it is in fast forward. Yesterday, you were a baby. A few hours ago, you were losing your first tooth. We know that, when we blink, you’ll be leaving for college. We want to hold on to you as long as we can because the 18 years we get with you are far too short.
So try to let the overprotectiveness be something that makes you smile instead of something that makes you cringe. We mean well. We really do.
