The “clown parent” feels the need to be “larger than life,” an entertainer. They believe that childhood, in fact, needs to be “larger than life,” a sort of ever-expanding carnival of delights. There is great love behind this image, but also exhaustion. My mental image of this parent (“Honk! Honk!”) isn’t one of them entertaining, and speaking with enthusiasm and animation. I imagine them later, depleted, like a puppet that has been set down. This kind of parenting often leads to disappointment—for the child, obviously, whose expectations are elevated daily, but also for the parent, who is left
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