Helicopter parents…

They hover, but do they ever land? What I mean to say is: do they ever actually hit their target spot?

I don’t think so.

‘Helicopter parenting,’ “was first used in Dr. Haim Ginott’s 1969 book Between Parents & Teenagers by teens who said their parents would hover over them like a helicopter. It became popular enough to become a dictionary entry in 2011. Similar terms include ‘lawnmower parenting,’ ‘cosseting parent,’ or ‘bulldoze parenting.’’’

From all of these synonyms, we get the idea. 

These parents are those who suffocate their kids by means of hovering above, mowing over, or endlessly tightening their child’s already rigid and straight backed corset. 

And to their defense, they do it with the best intentions; thinking that one day in the distant future, they will finally be able to fly away and see a grander view of their creation from above. 

But they won’t. 

Rather, they will view a masterpiece that has lost its magic after the loss of its mother muse (or father, too, in some cases).

Once the helicopter departs; once the parent must usher their child into the so long prepared for “adult world,” what will the new standalone adult do? Without the looming presence of a parent, they will likely go astray. 

I stand firm in this belief and I do not stand alone.

As reported by the American Psychology Association “if you make it so your child never makes a mistake, this will not adequately prepare them from the outside (aforementioned ‘adult’) world.” 

The repercussions aren’t just to be discovered years down the road, though. We are already confronted by them, as helicopter parents often drive their children, or more accurately called “students,” crazy.

Another recent study, found that “over controlling parenting can negatively affect a child’s ability to manage his or her emotions and behavior.”  

I will concede, though, that despite the aforementioned negative psychological effects of helicopter parenting in children, there are also positive grade implications. 

But good grades in school don’t equate to good performance in life. 

I think there is a stable middle ground that we as students and as future parents need to find and firmly stand on. 

For ourselves and our posterity, we must decide whether or not the sacrifices we make to appease our parents now will please them (and us) later.

Then, as potential future parents, we can for once learn an applicable lesson from school; one that we can eventually teach to our own children.