Poll: Parents are getting too involved in their adult children’s lives

It seems that parents are having a hard time letting go of doing things to help their children.

News 12 Staff

Mar 19, 2019, 1:18 AM

Updated 1,864 days ago

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Poll: Parents are getting too involved in their adult children’s lives
It seems that parents are having a hard time letting go of doing things to help their children.
A new poll by the New York Times found that parents are overstepping their bounds when it comes to taking care of things that their adult children should be taking care of.
“Wouldn’t it be nice if someone would solve all our problems for us?” asks psychologist Dr. Eileen Kennedy-Moore.
The poll found that 76 percent of parents remind their adult children about deadlines, 74 percent book appointments, 22 percent help study for a college test and 16 percent admitted to helping write job and internship applications.
“When we stop in too quickly to solve a problem that our children could resolve on their own, we steal their opportunity to develop important coping skills,” says Kennedy-Moore.
The poll also found that 15 percent of parents admitted to calling and taxing their adult children to wake them up in the morning and 11 percent would contact their child’s boss over a work issue.
This poll comes in the wake of a major college admission scandal where dozens of wealthy parents, including actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman, have been accused of paying bribes to get their children into college.
“Nowadays parents feel like they have to do everything possible,” says Kennedy-Moore.
Kennedy-Moore says that the best approach is for parents to teach their children social and emotional skills to get through life, but to not make the decisions for them.


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