| | | Children are naturally empathetic, so it’s easy for parents to cross the line unintentionally into “parentification”: the act of placing children in situations where they feel more like parents than children. “Kids are easy to exploit like that, unfortunately,” Aaron Anderson, LMFT, director of The Marriage and Family Clinic in Denver, told us. “If you teach children to be available whenever you’re having an emotional breakdown, they will be, whereas another adult wouldn’t.” Parents don’t make a conscious effort to exploit their kids. But it’s common to think, It’s so much easier to talk to my child; they care for me and they give me a hug when I’m feeling down. Reaching out to a child for love and support might not sound like it could damage their development, but when such behavior “parentifies” kids, it can. |
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