What happens when a parent relies on a child for emotional support?

Emotional incest, also known as covert incest, is a dynamic that occurs in parenting where the parent seeks emotional support through their child that should be sought through an adult relationship.

What is parental enmeshment?

Enmeshment may mean a parent centers their actions or emotions on the child(ren) and their successes or mistakes, attempts to know and direct all of the child’s thoughts or feelings, and relies heavily on the child(ren) for emotional support.

Can a parent be too attached to their child?

Relying on your child to meet all or most of your emotional and social needs is an unfair burden to place on him or her. A parent being overly attached to a child can put the child’s development on hold and can stunt emotional and psychological growth.

Do children take care of the emotional needs of their parents?

However, in healthy parent-child relationships, parents prioritize their children’s emotional needs as opposed to children taking care of the parent’s emotional needs. When children are put in the position of meeting the emotional needs of a parent, it creates an unhealthy dynamic in which children essentially become the parents.

What is emotional parentification and why is it bad?

The more problematic type is “emotional parentification,” in which parents, through a range of behaviors, turn to children to fulfill their emotional needs. Kids who regularly experience the latter can take on an unhealthy role — an amalgamation of parent, therapist, and best friend — in the parent-child relationship.

How can I help my child’s emotional development?

Try to bring this empathetic approach to the interactions you have with your child’s emotional experiences. If your child is upset about something, or even quarreling with a peer, your first instinct as a parent, is to intervene and return everything back to normal as quickly as possible.

Why is the emotional security of a young child important?

The emotional security of a young child is a prerequisite for any further learning. Here are the basic emotional needs of all children followed by typical milestones for various ages and 25 tips for parents to ensure their children grow up to be emotionally well adjusted. What are the basic emotional needs of a child?