Rebellious and disrespectful kids who like to boss around are usually described as “difficult”, with the presumption that they require extra attention or probably a few therapies. This is what most psychologists and child experts say to the parents who come with the complaint that their kids shout at them, try to harm them, give them orders, etc. Sean Grover, a New York-based psychotherapist and writer of the book “When Kids Call the Shots: How to Seize Control from Your Darling Bully—and Enjoy Being a Parent Again”, is among those very few people who have got the courage to call these kids bullies. Not only this, he believes that parents are equally responsible for bullying behavior among kids as it is their parenting styles that trigger such behavior. In an effort to untangle the factors that trigger this family dysfunction, he has pointed out three types of parents who are more likely to get bullied by their kids. Let’s discuss each of these styles in detail.

Guilty Parents

Guilty parents are those who blame themselves for things like financial hardship, divorce, etc., thinking that it is due to them that their kids are suffering in one way or another. It is due to this strong feeling of guilt that they start giving an extra amount freedom to their kids. These parents set little or no restrictions on kids and fulfill all or most of their wishes. It may be their way of compensating kids, but it almost always backfires. With time, kids start to think that it is their right to get what they want. They simply refuse to take no for an answer.

Anxious Parents

These parents, as the name implies, always remain worried about kids and they openly share their anxiety with them. Unfortunately, kids take this fear in a completely different way. They start to think that their parents do not believe in them. The feeling that your own parents don’t understand you and consider you useless, lazy, dumb, or incompetent is enough to make them angry. Most kids try to control this anger, but some of them are not successful in it. This is when they start to take things in their control in an effort to prove to their parents that they hold power.

Overprotective Parents

These parents cannot stop themselves from helping kids in almost everything they do, no matter how simple and easy the task may be. Their problem is that they can’t see their kids worried, depressed or sad. This is why they put in an extra amount of effort to give kids comfort. These so-called fix-everything parents have good intentions, but their extra care and love make kids feel that they are fully dependent on them for everything. This increases their need to get freedom and power. This is when they start bullying their parents to get the inner satisfaction that they hold power and are not dependent on anyone. Kids of overprotective parents are never satisfied with their parents. They always want more. This also causes them to exhibit bullying behavior.