Child

At what point do we stop coddling our children? When does "your child" stop being treated like "a child'? I see this all the time when I interview parents that want their adult child to start treatment at my office. The children are over twenty years old but their parents still view them as people that cannot fend for themselves. They spend so much time worrying and micro managing, that their child cannot hone adult skills. If you constantly think for your child, they will never have the need to think for themselves. The worst offenders are the parents that stop their child from thinking independently. They cut them off in mid conversation, thinking that their words are more important. Occasionally I have to take a parent aside and point out that if they never let go and let their child think for themselves, they are crippling the person they want to help. I have even suggested that the parent needs therapy as they have created a situation that in some way fulfills their own needs.