The Devastating Consequences of Permissive Parenting, According To Research

I woke up to the wild screams and screeches of something being murdered right in front of my apartment door. I stood up and ran to the door while also putting on a robe and when I opened it, ready to save whatever was screaming for its life, there it was: a child, couldn’t have been more than six, screaming his lungs out and dragging his butt on the dingy building floor. Like dogs do on the grass.

I froze. The mom, my neighbor, was there too. She was sort of smiling. I looked at the kid, I looked at her. ‘He’s ok, just throwing a bit of a tantrum because he didn’t want me to put sunscreen on him. I won’t force him, but he’s mad I even tried,’ she said lovingly.

I said nothing, gave her a dirty look and went back in, slamming the door in protest. Truth be told, I felt like having my own tantrum. I also felt like picking the kid off the floor and slathering his entire face in inch-thick sunscreen.

But I didn’t, because we’re living in a society, and because I know it wasn’t that poor boy’s fault. The mom, however… argh!

What gets me about this whole scene is that the mom wasn’t being cruel. She wasn’t being negligent in the dramatic, call-the-authorities sense. She was, by her own internal scoring system, being a good mom.