How does parents’ over-parenting unintentionally harm their children?

Raising children is not an easy task, and parents often find themselves stuck between fear for their children and the desire to give them freedom. But between protection and containment, many may fall into the trap of what is known as “overeducation,” a phenomenon that is expanding in today’s societies.

According to a report on the “Psychology Today” website and a study published in the Journal of Family Relations (2025), excessive interference by parents in the details of their children’s lives, even if it starts from good intentions, may cause long-term psychological harm to the child.

The study, which included 278 parents of children between the ages of 10 and 14, shows that parental anxiety is the number one driver behind overparenting. The results showed that mothers who constantly interfere in their children’s affairs out of anxiety or a desire for protection, unknowingly contribute to increasing levels of anxiety and poor self-confidence among their children.
In the short term, these behaviors may seem like a way to calm stress and strengthen the relationship, but in the long term, they produce children who suffer from indecision, fear of failure, and have difficulty making decisions.
Specialists stress the importance of balance, stressing that letting the child face some difficulties on his own is what builds his true personality. As researcher Yaffe, who supervises the study, says: “Education is not protection from pain, but rather training to deal with it.”

In an era in which social pressures and fears for the future of children are multiplying, this study reminds parents that love does not mean control, and that the best thing that can be given to the child is confidence in his abilities to grow and learn from trial and error.