Is your parenting style helping or hurting your child? How to fix it

Dubai-based Shreya Ramachandran (name changed on request) still harbours a slight resentment towards her mother, whenever she thinks about her childhood days, that is. Often bullied and ostracised as a child, her mother stepped in several times and complained to the principal of the school. "Since she was a teacher at the same school, she would often confront other children or adults for not being friendly, even when they weren’t causing harm anymore. As a result, people started avoiding me out of fear of her," Ramachandran recalls.

She acknowledges her mother’s good intentions but feels that her protective behavior, which crossed from professional to personal, caused problems and embarrassment. “I wish she hadn’t kept scolding them, even after they stopped bothering me. She doesn’t understand why I’m still upset about those years,” she says.