Protective Parenting After the Death of a Child

Abstract

Parents in 18 of 21 couples who parented other children following a child's death said that they became more protective parents after the death. In intensive interview, the parents said that the greater protectiveness was rooted in a greater awareness of child vulnerability and of their own vulnerability to child loss. The protection took many forms, including greater vigilance, more rapid response to any sign of trouble, concealing parent grief, and subordinating personal needs in order to benefit the child. Protection or overprotection seemed typically to occur in a system in which children collaborated in their own overprotection and parents were more child focused and less spouse focused