Overview
There is a very fine line between attachment and addiction. First analyze if you are attached to your child or addicted. When your child is not just a very important part of your world but your world, it is pure addiction. Addiction comes with being completely involved in just your child, having no social life, having no hobbies, no other important passion or relationship, etc. Your addiction towards your child is one way of using your child to gain love and fill in the empty spaces of your life. This is bad for both your child’s as well as your future.
Is it really that serious?
Yes being addicted to your child is really very serious. It can create a number of emotional problems for your child and you. Your addiction can burden your child with responsibilities of taking care of you, which can in turn make your child more mature than her age. It is also possible that you completely start depending on your child, which is wrong.
What are the consequences?
Consequences of addiction towards your child can be crucial. It is quite possible that you and your child start depending too much on each other and might not develop or be interested in any other social relationship. Or it is also possible that you might get too involved with your child and her life and to come out of your involvement your child might start rebelling. By starting to rebel your child might want to distance from you, which is wrong.
You wouldn’t want your child to become your caretaker rite? Addiction can put additional responsibility on your child. Your child starts becoming your caretaker. This additional responsibility can make your child sound and behave more mature than her age and experience. It takes away her innocence and adds your responsibility. This responsibility is a very big burden on your little child and you wouldn’t want to ruin her childhood.
This kind of addiction is a big setback for your child’s future. As you start to expect too much emotional support from your child, your child prefers to spend more time with you than with her studies or other activities, which is incorrect for her future. Like you grew up well with the help of education and outdoor activities your child needs it too. Remember your child also needs to be socially active. She needs friends and other people she can talk to. Your lives cannot be restricted to each other. Addiction does restrict your lives to each other.
To avoid such serious consequences in your child’s and your life you can try to de-addict to your child. By doing small thing, you can overcome your addiction.
De-addicting yourself
When your child is small, you need to give your child complete attention, which turns into addiction many a times. You start expecting your child to fulfill the empty space in your life, you also expect the little sole to add love to your life and help you forget your pains and loneliness. You can overcome all this by taking a few steps.
1. Take up hobbies
Getting involved in things you would like to do can help you keep yourself busy, leaving no time for addiction towards your child. When you go out you meet people, it increases your social involvement and helps you distract your mind from your child for some time.
2. Engross your child in activities
By engrossing your child in afterschool activities, he/she will be away from you for few more hours of the day. Keep yourself engrossed in relatives or friends for those few hours when your child is not at home. You can also take up a job to be occupied and distract you from your addiction.
3. Give time to people around you
Instead of expecting excessive emotional support from your little child or telling your little child all your problems, talk to an adult. An adult can understand you better and be a better support for you. By doing this you do not overload your innocent child with your problems and loneliness. Talking to your friends who understand you is much better than talking to a little child.
