Are You a Hyper-Parent? Am I?

June 14th, 2006

I’ve just finished reading Hyper-parenting: Are You Hurting Your Child by Trying Too Hard? by Alvin Rosenfeld, MD, and Nicole Wise.

Hyper-parenting includes “overscheduling” and “over enriching” our children, forcing us as parents to give up what is meaningful to us (other than our kids’ lives). The authors make the point that in a typical middle class American family, there is plenty of enrichment already. We should not fill our days with activities, lessons, educational opportunities too good to be missed, etc, at the detriment of our sanity.

This book fits in well with my current goal of “Piano con Calma”. I want our lives to be enriched, not by the quantity of outside activities we do, but by making connections within our family and community. This week is our slow week and it has been wonderful for all of us. We have planned no activities apart from our weekly trip to the library. The girls are reading, playing games, swimming and enjoying their childhoods.

Entry Filed under: Simple Living, Parenting

3 Comments Add your own

  • 1. momof3feistykids  |  June 14th, 2006 at 5:22 pm

    Great post! Many families need permission to let go a bit and just let their children grow. :-)

  • 2. Susan  |  June 16th, 2006 at 2:42 am

    I like this line: “I want our lives to be enriched… by making connections within our family and community.” That’s exactly how I’m feeling right now, you said it so perfectly!

    I agree with momof3, sometimes we *do* need reassurance that it’s okay to take a deep breath, toss the calendar of must-do activities, and just relax with our kids.

  • 3. moonshadows  |  June 21st, 2006 at 9:59 pm

    We’re all much happier this way. When I think about what I want my kids to remember of their childhoods, it is not the frenetic, harried days that I hope they’ll cherish. It is the laid back ones where we take time to discover who we are and who we want to be.

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