If you spend any time online, chances are you have encountered accusations against certain parents as being “Karens.” These entitled individuals strive to provide their children with every advantage to reach success; their efforts often go undetected.
Karen, an older white woman with an asymmetrical bob, always asks to speak with the manager at retail stores and restaurants.
Parenting a Karen
As a parent, it can be emotionally distressing to watch your child develop an unhealthy relationship with a Karen mom. Her ruthless and heartless actions may seriously threaten their wellbeing; children living in households where there’s a Karen live often experience traumatization symptoms like anxiety and depression as well as bullying, low self esteem and difficulty making healthy decisions. Therefore it’s essential that we understand who a Karen mother is as well as how to recognize one and deal with her effectively.
Karen is a middle-aged, suburban white minivan-driving mother with an iconic “speak to the manager” haircut who often makes headlines for her outrage-inducing antics on social media and viral videos. Karens are notorious for blowing every small issue out of proportion and their narcissistic attitudes are often met with ridicule from internet users.
Karen typically exhibits self-centered and demanding behavior, including demanding special treatment or privileges for herself or her children. Additionally, she may overemphasise their victim status by crying or accusing others of being the aggressors. Karen can often become aggressive towards others using bullying tactics such as her narcissism and violence to control both herself and them.
Different Karens share similar mindsets. Some can be more extreme and engage in potentially more dangerous behavior, including calling the cops on black neighbors as seen in viral videos such as those featuring “Pool Patrol Paula” and “Dog Park Debbie.” Road rage is another characteristic displayed by Karens such as Kidz Bop Karen in New York.
School administrators and other adults who interact with Karen parents tend to believe what the parents tell them and may even support the behavior by giving preferential treatment and allowing them to influence teachers. Some school systems also enable Karens by making jobs too bureaucratic for teachers who could challenge student/parent behaviors directly.
Karens have traditionally been associated with Baby Boomers; however, millennials and Generation Z are increasingly acknowledging them as outdated when it comes to social justice and youth culture. Karen’s popularity has escalated dramatically over time as various videos of white women behaving inappropriately have gone viral; one example being “Central Park Karen” who called the police on a black birder in Manhattan’s Central Park.
Dealing with a Stealth Karen
Some say identifying Karens is easy – all it takes is looking out for their bleach blonde bob hair, expensive designer labels and frequent use of spray tan. But what truly distinguishes a Karen is not her appearance or wealth; rather it’s their sense of entitlement. They cannot see past themselves and can’t see past the immediate needs or the world around them – they remain unaware that their actions leave behind an abundance of trash for other children to wade through before having any hope at success; not to mention how their actions impact teachers and students in schools alike.
Over the past several years, entitled white women have made headlines around the globe, earning themselves the unfavorable nickname “Karens.” This term refers to middle-aged women who repeatedly complain and display entitled behaviors such as demanding to speak to managers; usually using false victimhood to avoid responsibility and abuse their power over service workers (or anyone they deem lower than them).
As soon as a stealth Karen attempts to control your emotions, be aware that she may turn into an explosively emotional mess if her desires don’t come true. She may lie and exaggerate in order to evoke emotional reactions in you before scream-calling with vague yet pointed insults aimed at making herself look bad and ultimately trying to control you with their emotional power. A master manipulator, Karen may attempt to exert control over you through manipulation techniques and play on your emotions in an effort to control her through manipulation strategies used against her opponents – it all depends on you being aware.
Danish mother seek video may have inspired a whole new generation of Karen parents. Some responses to it have even begun using the term “Karen parent” to refer to an entitled, demanding and impossibly demanding individual who exhibits such characteristics.
Teachers want to communicate with parents and students, discuss grades, and help any issues the children might be having; but many are fearful of being labeled “Karen,” so do not voice their concerns or address problems in the classrooms – creating an unhealthy classroom and disempowering teachers while setting an unhealthy example for their pupils who learn that throwing teachers under the bus to meet personal goals can only work against their best interests.
Dealing with an Entitled Child
Karens are well known for having a grandiose sense of narcissism that includes an unrealistic belief that they are superior. These individuals tend to act like victims and use emotions as an excuse for their behavior. Karens can often become manipulative and aggressive if their rights have been violated and often lie to make others believe their viewpoint.
Stranger Things’ Karen Wheeler epitomizes all these traits perfectly. As a rich white woman who feels entitled to everything she owns, Karen focuses on her family first while neglecting those less well off or privileged than she. Additionally, Karen can often make insensitive remarks that offend minority groups.
One of the hardest challenges children must navigate is having a Karen mom. These types of parents tend to cause constant drama and overreact emotionally in situations that don’t require that much emotional energy. When children go out in public with them, they are usually embarrassed because of all of the attention she garners – sometimes strangers even whip out their phones and start recording her behavior!
Karens tend to be narcissists who expect others to cater to their needs and take care of them. Additionally, they tend to argue frequently and have difficulty listening to other points of view. Children living with Karen moms often demand special privileges, services and treatment and become visibly distressed if denied their desires. It is vital for children to learn independence and fight back on their own behalf as life with this type of mother can be challenging. As it’s possible to reduce entitlement in your household, by setting limits and encouraging your child to work for what they want they can build healthy self-esteem as well as be more accepting and understanding towards other’s opinions and perspectives.
Dealing with a Disruptive Child
Karens are notorious for demanding special privileges or services from authorities. When they don’t get what they want, they resort to false victimhood by crying for help from authority figures or accusing their targets of mistreatment. Karens tend to sport short bob cuts, drive SUVs, and dislike skateboarders; additionally they have unreasonable demands that won’t accept “no” as an answer and their children suffer as a result; using white privilege to call out other for being low status when their wishes don’t get fulfilled is also common – as is using white privilege to claim that when their demands don’t get met they often use white privilege to claim lower status when their desires don’t get what they want or expect from those around them or use white privilege when someone doesn’t complying.
Karens can be extremely harmful and even lethal if left unaddressed. When children have Karens as mothers, daily lives quickly degenerate into chaos and toxic environments – it becomes hard to perform even mundane tasks without being mocked and ridiculed by her narcissistic behavior, with people immediately whipping out their phones to record her every move and outing becoming an event worthy of documentaries being recorded by many passerby’s phones! In children of Karen mothers there is often post traumatic stress syndrome anxiety depression symptoms among other issues such as post traumatic stress syndrome and depression occurrences among others.
Karen Wheeler, as depicted in Stranger Things, is depicted as being an overbearing mother to Mike. When she finds out he is involved with the Hellfire Club – a Dungeons and Dragons group run by him – it becomes concerning. Furthermore, this paranoia leads her to believe Will Byers’ disappearance may have something to do with an escaped experiment from another dimension.
Karen enforces stringent rules with her children, leading them to clash, especially between Nancy and Jameson. But their differences aside, they unite against the monster plaguing Hawkins. Karen grows increasingly concerned for her daughter as she notices particles coming from Upside Down.
Instead of engaging in power struggles with your child, try to understand their underlying motivations for their behavior. From mental health concerns to dangerous actions, their actions could be indicative of deeper issues which must be addressed. Instead of punishing bad behaviors with more punishments, reward good ones instead – that way your child can learn self-regulation by knowing when punishment will be administered and what steps they can take to change their behaviors in order to avoid future punishments.
