Is Unemployment Reducing Hyper-Parenting?

Losing a Job Means Family Budget Cuts & Fewer Costly Activities

May 4, 2009 Mary King

The stagnant economy is redefining the way Americans parent their children. Unemployment, plus cuts in after-school programs, means fewer organized activities for kids.

Hyper-parenting refers to the actions parents take to monitor and protect every aspect of their children's lives, managing and dictating every moment of the day. Some children don't have a moment to breathe from the minute they get home from school until the time they close their eyes at night. The same goes for weekends and summer vacations. The parent – usually the mother – decides how the child will spend every hour, allowing no free "idle" time.

After-School Activities and Organized Sports Programs

Many schools across the U.S. have canceled summer school programs in light of the stagnant economy and the lack of funding. For the same reasons, growing numbers of business sponsors and private organizations are unable to support athletic programs and other after-school activities during the school year.

As cuts to programs continue and nothing replaces the activities, what are children supposed to do? Parents who depend on summer camps, summer school, and year-round athletic and arts programs are left to fill a lot of free time with their children. Is that such a bad thing?

Jobless Parents Can No Longer Afford Costly Programs and Activities for Kids

It's back to the bare necessities for a lot of households. Cuts in employment hours and company downsizing have left many parents with less income or none at all. When there's no money in the budget for extras, it means the kids have to find other things to fill after-school and vacation hours. For parents that are left trying to fill all those hours at home, the task seems nearly impossible.

These same parents are trying to find work and keep a house running smoothly. Many single parents and couples desperate for money have gone so far as to start a home business. The bottom line is it is virtually impossible to keep even one child engaged in some form of activity every waking moment, let alone two or three children. So what is the child to do except learn to adjust and enjoy the freedom?

Kids are Allowed to Thrive

Children that have never been allowed to make so much as a move on their own are now enjoying the freedom of self-reliance and creativity. No more over-scheduling means time to think and dream. As sappy as it might sound, great things have come from such idle pleasures as wasting time.

While it might seem that no good has come from the economic crisis, it depends on one's perspective. If a reduced income means spending more time with the children – or letting them spend time on their own to create and dream – then perhaps something good has come from the depressed financial experience after all.

Hyper-parenting evolved as the need for perfection intruded on family life. While children should be encouraged to excel as individuals, doing so requires free time to think and be creative. Children need spontaneity and the chance to succeed – or fail – on their own. Only then can a child learn from experience and make adjustments. The economic recession has caused a decline in organized activities, which in turn has changed programmed children into self-reliant kids. Hopefully, parents will recognize the benefit that has come from financial demise and learn from the experience.

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