You may think giving your child too much attention will turn them into a ‘snowflake’.
But new research concludes parents should mollycoddle their children to stop them from becoming suicidal or turning to drugs.
Scientists found youngsters are nearly seven times more likely to attempt suicide as they grow older if they never received help with their homework.
And a seperate study revealed early teenagers are less likely to snort cocaine, drink alcohol or sniff glue if they have strict parents.
The latter findings, made by Brazilian researchers, question what science claims to know about strict parenting tactics.
A host of research over the years has suggested parents who are too authoritative unintentionally encourage their children to get into trouble.
New research concludes that parents should mollycoddle their children to stop them from becoming suicidal or turning to drugs
What was the first study?
The first study, conducted by two researchers at the University of Cincinnati, looked at the effects of parenting on Government data from 2012.
They found children between 12 and 17 are significantly more likely to be suicidal if their parents showed little signs of caring about them.
Professor Keith King, lead author, said: ‘Kids need to know that someone’s got their back, and unfortunately, many of them do not.
‘Tell them [children] you’re proud of them, that they did a good job, get involved with them, and help them with their homework.’
He worked alongside Professor Rebecca Vidourek for the study, which found 12 and 13 year olds are most negatively affected by poor parenting.
What did they find?
Children in that age group with parents who never or rarely told them they were proud of them were nearly five times more likely to have suicidal thoughts.
In contrast, 16 and 17 year olds were shown to be three times more likely to have similar thoughts, the researchers found.
The 12 and 13 year olds were also seven times more likely to formulate a suicide plan and about seven times more likely to attempt suicide than their peers.
Similarly, children of this age with parents who rarely told them they did a good job or helped them with their homework were at excessively high risk for suicide.
The findings, described as a ‘major problem’, were presented at the 2017 American Public Health Association Conference.
What was the second study?
The second research trial, by scientists at the Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil, surveyed 6,381 children between 11 and 15 across six cities.
It revealed that eagle-eyed parents who require their children to follow strict rules are protecting them from a lifetime of dangerous drugs.
Endeavoring to know where they are, who they are with and what they are doing slashes the risk of alcohol and other substance abuse.
Researchers found such parents, dubbed ‘authoritative’, had children less likely to dabble with marijuana, tobacco, cocaine, crack, alcohol and glue.
The findings, led by Professor Zila Sanchez, were published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence.