Narcissistic parents have a huge manifestation of self-importance and egotistic thinking in their brains. The "Stage Parent Syndrome" is what explains this situation where parents want to raise their children in such a way that they can fulfill their own devastated goals and desires through them.
One must think that nothing's wrong with that and almost every adult wants to raise their child to become some ideal person that they themselves failed to become. However, the concept isn't as simple as that as PsychCentral tells in detail.
Narcissistic parents are ready to go to extreme measures to ensure that their kids fulfill the parents' needs and become reflections of their superiority. In order to achieve this, they begin to discourage their children from playing with other children and blame the other children of contaminating their minds. Repeatedly, they tell their children that they are far greater than any other kid.
Consequently, because of all of this, the children start to develop thinking that they are like God and can do anything. What adds to this thinking is the period of elementary school, where the children excel and become a favorite of almost everyone. Even though there are no visible problems at this stage, what happens later is bullying among children and the so-called teacher's pet concept starts to emerge.
The parents, however, react by saying that others are just jealous and can't handle the extraordinary characteristics they possess - further thickening the negative concept in their children's mind. Following this guidance, the children get through secondary school too but the U-turn point arrives when they get into an elite college.
College is very different from primary and secondary schools and so are the group of students there, who are all bright and competitive and energetic, which makes it hard for the children to survive there. They no longer stand out and get targeted by complex situations, which result in a great decline in their psychological and emotional stability.
According to Psychology Today, bullying goes with this decline and attacks the mental health of the children, making them paranoid. So, the geniuses that the parents are aspiring for might end up like delusional people in a mental ward. Not just that but every single sentiment just vanishes from inside them, leaving them numb and self-obsessed.
However, that's not always the case. Narcissistic parenting can also be of help to children in some aspects of their lives. It mostly depends on the nature of a child as to what triggers their behavior.
Some children require direct motivation while others require some amount of ridicule to draw in motivation stored inside them. Therefore, it can't be generalized that narcissistic parenting is all bad. Even though it's bad in most situations, it can also be an effective approach as well.
So, what are your thoughts about narcissistic parenting? Please share your thoughts below.
