5 Signs You Are a Permissive Parent

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With the often hectic daily routine majority of parents have these days, it’s easy to gradually slip and become a permissive or pushover parent if care is not taken, especially if your children are strong-willed.

Find 5 typical signs you are in the permissive parent category to enable you evaluate yourself and get back on track if need be…

1. Inconsistent rules and routines. If your children seldomly follow set routines and rules and you hardly have time to implement consequences or don’t bother getting them to comply, you may be fast becoming a pushover parent. If nothing is done to arrest the situation now, your children will get used to always having a field day – watch TV when they want, read and do homework when they feel like, go to bed when they like, and so on – and it will be difficult to regain control and enforce discipline later on. Create time out of your busy schedule!

2. You always go out of your way to meet your child’s demands. Permissive parents do whatever they have to in order to meet their children’s demands, even if unnecessary or outrageous, just to make them happy and avoid meltdowns or conflicts. They are often too careful of getting their children offended.

3. You let even significant misbehaviour slide. Permissive parents also find it difficult to address major misbehaviour properly. When they do not ignore, they resort to pleas, bribes or other forms of manipulation to get their children to behave as expected subsequently.

This is because permissive parents are often more particular about being friends with their children than authority figures. They are very keen on pleasing their children and being perceived as ‘cool’ than enforcing discipline which they feel will make them unpopular.

4. You are quick to except excuses. If you often accept your child’s explanations for any shortcoming even when they are only flimsy excuses, you are definitely a permissive parent. Children with such parents already know any excuse will do and often do not bother about their actions or inactions because they know there will likely be no consequence.

5. You always step in. You always eliminate any inconvenience at the first request. While doing this is not always bad, permissive parents hardly say no. For instance, if their child says he won’t be able to do any house chores next week because he will be studying and writing exams, they accept to step in without any thought.

If you are a permissive parent or fast becoming one, now is the time to make necessary changes to enable you become a more effective parent and raise a disciplined and more wholesome child.

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