Children and the Psychological Price of Overachievement :: Parents Parenting Argumentative Essays

Children and the Psychological Price of Overachievement The issue of whether parents are too hard on their kids has been debatable for years. The subject started to present itself more as a problem when the Jon Bennet Ramsey case happened. The performing arts are where the problem of â€Å"pressure parents† seems to be the most prevalent and problematic. When does being there for the children become too much? When does â€Å"what’s best for the children† become the worst possible thing for the children? In the dance world, what goes on backstage to a performer is masked by the way the dancer carries them self on stage. The pressure that comes from a parent, particularly a mother, can be almost unbearable to a performer. Some parents try too hard to give to their kids what they could not or did not have when they were young. Parents try to relive their dreams of being the dancer or prima ballerina through their daughters and sons. Parents should not push their children to extremes. In the article, â€Å" Psychological Price of Overachievement,† by USA Today, they say that there are parents who push their kids too far. They tell their audience, parents and adults, the pressures and the outcomes of the pressures that can be put on the children from their parents. The article is trying to provoke thought in the audience to have them re-evaluate their parenting methods or what will be their parenting methods. The main concern is the kids in this case. The pressure sometimes builds so high that the dancer becomes unhappy and feels the need to do whatever it is to keep their parents happy. This can include developing an eating disorder, such as bulimia, or depression. As a dancer I saw all of these things first hand. Being backstage all that is heard is the voices of the few parents who are just telling their kids over and over that they need to be the best and perform the best out of the whole group of 100 or more people. When the parents would finally leave, many of the girls backstage with me would get so nervous and anxious about their performance and pleasing their parents that they would then go vomit in the bathroom.