Bossy Child and can You Identify?

Bossy children are taking over American homes by the minute. As a therapist and a single mother of a seven year old daughter, I feel compelled to write about the disturbing and increasing awareness of how out of control our children are today. Everywhere you turn today you find bullies or bossy children telling their parent or your child what to do. I am hard pressed to find a play friend for my daughter for the following reasons:

• Kids find it funny to curse at their parents and watch them do nothing about it.
• Children are allowed to say where they want to go, what they want to eat, what they want to do and when.
• Parents do not step in when another child starts to respond to my request for them to please stop a negative action or comment. Am I stepping in and parenting for these parents?
• Kids have no chores, no sense of responsibility and treat their parents as their personal house keepers. They leave the mess actually telling my daughter, “don’t worry about cleaning it up, my mom or dad will get it.”
• Parents are afraid of their children. To be liked is much more important than to be respected. Forget rules all together.
• Temper tantrums are so common that at the very onset the child is given whatever they want just so they will stop. Great move parents. Now they are complete snobs and obnoxious children that nobody else wants to be around. Your child is on their way to having a conduct disorder.

Parents throw up their hands and say “what can you do?”. Parents think that this “independence” is a good thing that should be rewarded and commended. It may be cute when they are two and not so cute at the age of six and seven. You may not have the backbone to be in charge but your child will develop one fast. It will be detrimental to their development as they grow up.