Whatever we label it, overparenting-anxious, invasive, overly attentive, and competitive parenting-may have finally backfired. As we witness the first generation of overparented children becoming adults in their own right, many studies show that when baby boomer parents intervene inappropriately--with too much advice, excessive favors, and erasing obstacles that kids should negotiate themselves--their "millennial" children end up ill-behaved, anxious, narcissistic, entitled youths unable to cope with everyday life. The obsession with providing everything a child could possibly need, from macrobiotic cupcakes to 24/7 tutors, has created epidemic levels of depression and stress in our country's youth, but this can be avoided if parents would just take a giant step back, check their ambitions at the door, and do what's really best for their kids.
Written by a noted psychiatrist and a parenting specialist,
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