The increasing number of conduct-disordered children has been exacerbated by parents who overindulge their children i.e., spoiled children. Parents who spoil their children: These children and teens create complex community problems and complications for educators and clog our legal system. Bright, achieving, loving parents with pronounced selective thinking distortions may confuse love with overindulgence. Their overindulgence keeps them from mentoring their children, leaving them to grow up without the life skills needed to function successfully as young adults. Oftentimes, they are living at home, limping through some form of college, and may either have concurrent marijuana problems or anger issues. The complications of overindulging children include symptoms of conduct disorder, psychopathy, acute self-centeredness, intense detachment leading to anger and resentment, excessive dependency on mom (hounding mom to death…), entitlement, manipulation, and impaired social skills.

Spoiled Children -Parental counseling offers a cognitive-behavioral understanding of the thinking distortions and how to undo this destructive parenting pattern. Although many overindulgent parents love their children, research shows this isn’t true of all overindulgent parents. Therefore, parents overindulge their children as a mask for abuse or other destructive patterns.

If you have lived or worked with oppositionally defiant children and teens, you know that they can be exasperating and exhausting.

However, these children have untapped riches, talents, and insights that can be a pleasure to uncover, engage, and watch take flight. Counseling provides these children with training and support in the areas of emotion regulation, attention, organization, sequencing, planning, impulse regulation, and the instruction of certain life skills.