Does Sheilding Kids Help Them Long-Term?

It seems like this topic has been coming up a lot lately and I thought it might be something good to debate in this forum. As parents, should we shield our kids from negative things (candy, TV, consumerism, Internet, etc) or will that lead to longer term issues?

We've all heard the stories, many from our own childhood, where the kids that weren't allowed to do something then ended up partaking in excess once they were out of their parent's control. A friend (and parent) recently told me a funny story where his nieces and nephews are not allowed to eat sweets but recently at a family event, there was a chocolate fountain and these kids ended up dipping their heads in the fountain to sop up as much chocolate as possible - can you picture the mess? His point was that he allows his own kids to have sweets in moderation and therefore, his kids are less likely to abuse a situation or deal in excesses. (His point was also that he had better parenting skills than his sister but we'll skip one for now)

So I want to know if this is common or not? or do we just remember the funny stories and justify our own parenting skills by saying to ourselves that shielding is not a good thing? Shielding our kids is certainly the more difficult path to take as a parent in my opinion - its much easier to say "yes" to candy, sodas, TV, etc than to say no and hold strong with the decision. I am a believer in moderation because I believe the approach worked for my parents. Growing up, we had candy dishes all over the house with readily available sweets because my mother finds a way to merge all the holidays into one year-long holiday celebration...;) Today, I don't eat sweets or rarely anyway. I never take desserts at dinner, not to watch my weight, but because I'm not really interested. I attribute some of that to always having it available as a child. I wish my parents would have given me all the gadgets and electronics that I wanted when I was a kid, maybe I wouldn't have such an addiction to expensive toys now....

I've looked for research on the topic but haven't found any yet; what do you think? Is moderation all its cracked up to be or do we paint an unfair picture of shielding kids?

Till next time, Earn Smart. Spend Smart.

Dave
www.PAYjr.com
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