How Protective Parents Imperil Kids at the Playground

ABC News:

For parents who hover, a playground can look like a very dangerous place for their kids. But medical experts warn that parental efforts to keep their young children safe often backfire — and end up harming them instead.

Nora Abularach of New York keeps her impulses in check. On Wednesday she watched as her 2-year-old son, Sam, scurried up the ladder to a big yellow slide at a Central Park playground. Abularach remained a few feet away near the foot of the slide. Sam paused at the top for a moment, looking to his mom for reassurance. A few encouraging words later, Sam was zipping down the slide, all by himself.

The mother of two says she likes this particular playground because it is specially designed for Sam’s age group. She can let him explore and tackle each new apparatus on his own.

“I try not to hover,” she said. “I think it’s important for him to fall once or twice; he needs to figure out his own limits.”

Read the whole story: ABC News