'This is exactly why I'm against large families': Parents force 17-year-old son to share a room with toddler, be responsible for his bedtime routine and criticize him when it goes wrong

"Parentification" is a word you might have encountered around the internet. It's a way to refer to the practice of parents forcing their older children to take care of their younger children. It happens all the time, but it should never be normalized. It forces kids to grow up way before they should, and it offloads responsibility that really only belongs to the parents. 

Think about the Duggar family-- the famous fundamentalist family of 19 children. The only way that a family that size was possible is that the older kids became responsible for the younger kids. They became their functional parents. Not only is this confusing for the younger children, but it also robs the older children of a sense of independence. They have their whole lives to be saddled with responsibility. It doesn't have to start when you're a teenager. It wasn't their decision to have another child. It was up to the parents. But unfortunately, that doesn't stop parents from enacting this behavior. It's far too common, but needs to be called out every time it occurs. Like in this story.

Author image for JR Atkinson JR Atkinson
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