Child Lock: Off

Controlling parents can be a big pain—yes, even if you’re an adult.

- Suchita Parikh Mundul

It isn’t difficult to gauge if you are the offspring of overprotective parents. If they ring you several times a day, insist on having a joint bank account with you and remain involved in most aspects of your life—career, relationships, diet, dress—you are one of legions of Indians dealing with parents who don’t know how to back off. While you are not responsible for how your parents treated you when you were a child, you can take charge as an adult and define some healthy boundaries.

Step 1: Identify

The first step to dealing with overbearing parents is to identify whether they truly are overstepping their bounds. Tarana Pithawalla, clinical psychologist and partner at Metamorphose, Mumbai, lists some behaviours to look out for, “Constant nagging, withdrawal of affection when you do something they dislike, criticising your decisions, putting you down in public, and not respecting your perspective, etc.”

Step 2: Understand