One of the delicate paradoxes of parenthood is that it is a parent’s job to meet their child’s needs while at the same time ensuring their child needs them less over time.
As intensive parenting rises, parents are encouraged to meet their children’s needs with increasing efficiency but fail to ensure they gain the independence and autonomy needed to be functional adults. As the director of a Montessori school and a mom of four children, I worry the shift to intensive parenting stifles children’s natural desire for independence while creating an unsustainable job description for parents.
