New ‘Snowplow Parenting’ All About Keeping Kids From Ever Knowing Failure

“It comes from the premise that your child is excellent and you believe they can succeed in any way and it’s actually other people that are getting in their way of being successful,” said Dr. Jill Emanuele, senior director of Child Mind Institute.

Emanuele says she is seeing an increase in this way of parenting, even if some don’t want to admit to doing it.

“A snowplow parent will go to a teacher and say, ‘Why did my child get this grade, why did my child not get this prize?’ and trying to get the child the better grade or prize, because their child deserves it,” she said. She says it’s a dangerous method since it doesn’t teach a child to fail. “A child needs to be able to face their own obstacles and fight their own battles,” said Emanuele. “Because if you do it for them they are never going to learn it themselves.”