Yeah, PDM, here it's not a good thing as such. Here when you are enabling someone, It's like giving an alcoholic a drink. :-) ...
Hi Jilly
Thanks for the explanation
It makes sense now ~ well, sort of.
When I was teaching, etc, I considered myself to be 'an enabler' ~ which was a good thing.
Then I read, just the other day, an item from an American lady, warning people never to be 'enablers' ~ and I was totally baffled.
Then I saw you use it in what seemed to be the same way, Jilly, and I was equally confused.
Her definition seemed to be the same as yours.
But, I still do not really understand it.
Looking at Montessori education, for example, their 'teachers' are classed as 'enablers' ~ as defined in the Oxford dictionary, and I wonder how this meaning could have changed so much in the USA. 'Enable' seems to be quite a simple and straightforward word ~ meaning to make someone able. How did it come to mean something so different. Any ideas? It's quite confusing
http://www.indiaedu.com/education-india/montessori-education/www.askoxford.com