완벽주의 부모의 소진과 자녀 자율성 위기에 대한 소고

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This study examines how perfectionistic parenting and the contemporary discourse of “gentle parenting” contribute to parental burnout and undermine children’s autonomy in modern Korean society. Although gentle parenting emphasizes emotional attunement and non-punitive interaction, its idealized standards often require intensive emotional labor, constant self-regulation, and heightened self-criticism from parents, leading to increased parental burnout. Parental anxiety and over-engagement further disrupt children’s opportunities to experience manageable frustration, develop self-regulation, and cultivate executive functioning, thereby intensifying the autonomy crisis. A review of the literature reveals that parental burnout and children’s autonomy are not isolated phenomena but mutually reinforcing components of a cyclical process exacerbated by broader sociocultural factors such as online comparison culture, early academic competition, and expert-driven therapeutic systems. Based on these findings, this study proposes policy directions including establishing a national support system for parental emotional well-being, expanding emotion-focused parent education, strengthening play- and autonomy-oriented early childhood environments, regulating early private education, defining clearer boundaries between parents and educational institutions, and constructing integrated governance across governmental sectors. The study emphasizes reframing parenting from a private responsibility to a shared societal task and argues that alleviating parental burnout and restoring children’s autonomy are essential conditions for safeguarding the developmental rights of future generations.