Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Naomi Lu]

Overprotective, as the literal meaning, means that someone is very anxious to protect somebody from being hurt, in a way that restricts his freedom. An overprotective parent always protects his children too much, even excessive, for fear that his children will be hurt or have frustrations. Nowadays, as the advance of material life and people tend to have fewer children; parents do their best to protect their children from being hurt. In that case, more and more parents become the so-called overprotective parents. Children who have an overprotective parent are apt to have less resistance to pressure. They tend to have a bad mood frequently or commit suicides just because of some little things. Take my friend for example; her parents are typical overprotective parents and they always protect her excessively. They call for her after school every day. Moreover, whenever she has problems on homework or with friends, her parents always take the place of her to solve the problems. If she encounters problems on homework, her parents will do the difficult homework for her. If she has some problems with her friends, her parents will ask for her friends to make reconciliation with her. Consequently, she is lack of the abilities to solve problems. Not knowing what to do when confronting difficulties in school, she always cries. It is doubtless essential for parents to protect their children; however, going too far resulting in overprotective is not good.

[ad-miral]

too less protection is not good, either. See girls who hang around with bad gangsterrs all day smoking and committing crimes. The grade of protection should be chosen carefully by the parents. It's their product, so they have to do the maintaining work.
_________________
If I say "I love you" to someone, then I also have to say "I also love everyone else inside you, I love the whole world because of you, I also love myself inside you." -- Erich Fromm, the Art of Love

[RedRose]

I don't know whether I am an overprotective parent. But I certainly ain't a gentle one. When my daughter was 6 years old, she told me that a boy in her class pushed her down to the floor, and she didn't even push him back, because she worried that the teacher would blame her. I told my daughter:"next time, if he does that again, you have to push him down in front of all your classmates, hopefully, spit at his face, that way he can really receieve a lesson, and that'd be good for him. I did the same revange when I was a little girl at your age."

Now nobody dare bully her. one hand, she is famous among her classmates because she is the best at study, on the other hand, due to her attitude towards the bully--Always say no to bully.

[Anuradha Chepur]

I think those with only one kid tend to be somewhat overprotective, because all their focus and attention is on just one child.
Those with more than one, have their attention divided, so the kids get some space.
Anyway, I hope kids don't start rebelling after reading this thread. It is all human nature and they will find out when they become parents.

[RedRose]

Not exactly. it's not all about the quantity of the kids, it's more about the parent's personality.

When I was a kid, my mother was very strict and also overprotective too, however, I wasn't the only kid of hers, I had two sisters, one brother. and I was the oldest one. But my mom fucosed on every kid, punishing them when they got a bad grade, protecting them when they received some heat from outside.

Some parents are born overprotective, and there is no chance to change it.

[ad-miral]

[RedRose]