Negative Effects Of Helicopter Parenting

The term “helicopter parents” is known for it’s negative reputation as it typically describes a parenting style that is focused around patterns of being “overcontrolling, overprotecting and overperfecting.” According to Julie Lythcott-Haims, the author of “Helicpoter parenting is a trap. It’s time to break free” this way of parenting is causing significant harm, as kids aren’t getting prepared for the challenges that will be thrown their way.

Helicopter parenting is a parent who pays extremely close attention to children or children 's experiences and problems, particularly at educational institutions. The term was first used in the 1969 book called “Parents & Teenagers,” by Dr. Haim Ginott. Helicopter parenting became popular that it was added to the dictionary entry in 2011. This style of parenting is an overprotective style on raising their children by not letting them have too much freedom. However, this way of parenting is mainly involved in a child’s life by trying to be too much of a controlling parent rather than letting their kids get away with something at a young age. Parents typically take all the responsibilities of their children’s decisions they make. Therefore, this

Parenting has never been easy, and as any parent will admit, it is a very exhausting job. At the same time, parents often claim that it gives the greatest rewards in life. Good parenting is often thought that parents must be involved in the minutiae of their kids’ lives in order to be successful. However, the main goal of parenting is to produce worthy citizens who contribute to their fellow human beings, and it must be up to the individual parent(s) to decide what looks like.

Not many people know that “One in 10 [Millennials] say their parents have accompanied them to job interviews and 3% of recent college graduates report that their parents have actually sat in on the interview” (Stahl). This is a product of overparenting which impairs the growth of children. A great example of overparenting gone too far is Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare. In this play Lord Capulet, Juliet’s father, Thinks that he is doing the best for her by choosing that she will marry a man named Paris. He does not ask her if she wants marry Paris at all. Little does he know this leads to her demise. When an overprotective parent tries to help their children by making decisions for them, it is hurting the children more than helping. Because

Helicopter parents are parents that are always involved in their children’s lives, and do too much for them that they can do for themselves. They are called “helicopter parents” because they tend to hover and keep watch of everything or at least stay close by. Some people feel that helicopter parenting helps ensure the safety of their child, while others believe children need to live their lives more independently. Helicopter parents need to let their children make their own decisions and live independently because children are being forced into extracurriculars they are uninterested in, kids are unable to make their own decisions, and parents won’t always be around for their children.

In pages 232-281 of Freakonomics, Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt cover the rights and wrongs of many parents’ thinking styles. The pros and cons of being a helicopter parent are discussed in the first half of the chapter. Eventually, the authors unanimously agree that it is better to let one’s child develop without constant supervision and influence from parents or guardians. Conversely, they also warn of becoming too distant from one’s child. They authors amplified the importance of striking a balance between giving a child space and still monitoring their lives. In addition to parental ideals, the authors also discuss what factors influence the learning capacity of our children. By using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study

Researchers have defined “helicopter parenting” as parents who are too involved in their children’s life. This includes solving problems that children could solve on their own and making important decisions on their children’s behalf. This causes many problems in children. Helicopter parenting is wrong because it is invading a child’s privacy. A parent hovering is harmful to the child because it can cause a feeling of being overwhelmed by always having someone over their shoulder (“Here’s Why You Need to Stop Helicopter Parenting”). Helicopter parenting can cause anxiety, depression, a lack of confidence, unhappiness, academic problems, and many other difficulties in a child’s lives.

A newer sociological concept, helicopter parenting, revolves around millennial students and the close, dependent relationships they have with their parents and grandparents. These are parents/grandparents who are actively involved in their child’s education, even at the collegiate level. This desire to micro-manage a child’s actions and decisions comes from the growing societal emphasis to achieve professional success. Professional success now being defined as excelling through high school and proceeding to an elite ivy league college with no “pit-stops” along the way for free-play and relaxation. This narrow definition of success expects children to perform at very high academic levels, which their parents/grandparents push them harder and

Becoming a parent is a task that cannot be taken lightly. It is a task filled with frustration, responsibilities and dedication, but is also filled with joy and satisfaction. From children learning how to behave to them going out with friends, rules, standards and expectations are set mostly by their parents. Parents make most of their children’s decision in the first couple of years from behalf from what they eat for breakfast from setting their curfew as they get older. As children began grow, they began to make their own choices and learn to deal with the consequence of their mistakes. However, some parents will try to protect this process which can harm their child by them not accepting responsibility on their own. An article by Dr. Nathan Lents has given the audience a view about those who tend to be overprotective parents are actually not

The helicopter mom (and/or dad) is a popular example of poor parenting in respect to encouraging independence. From Dr. Haim Ginott's 1969 book Parents & Teenagers, helicopter parenting refers to “shadowing a child” or always watching over a child which consequently restricts independence. A helicopter parent might, “call(ing) a professor about poor grades, arrange(ing) a class schedule, manage exercising habits.” As Wendy Mogel, author of Blessings of a Skinned Knee and Blessings of a B minus, says in a short sentence, “Teenagers need to make dumb mistakes to get smart.” This is a pivot point of human psychology - one learns from experience, and if a child is not exposed to the world outside before they are off to college, they are deprived of proper parenting. It is important for a child to develop his own outlook on the world and not base his perspective off the narrow view a helicopter parent would fabricate. When one transcends childhood and enters adulthood they must be reliant on their own summation of knowledge to succeed and not be dependent on their parents (looking after

Often, parents can be overprotective of their children because they fear failure or because they want to protect them from potential harm. Despite their good intentions, children of overprotective parents are affected in their development and maturation and generally have a difficult time trusting in anyone other than their parents. This parenting method is known as helicopter parenting, like helicopters, they hover overhead, overseeing their child's life. The term helicopter parenting was first used in 1969 by Dr. Haim Ginott, the author of "Parents and Teenagers." The term was in fact, composed by teenagers describing the behavior of their parents. Helicopter parenting has become so prevalent over the years, it became a dictionary entry in 2011 (VanderHeiden

“If we never give our children permission to get things wrong...they’re unlikely to ever learn how to get things right” (Glass and Tabatsky xxi). Jennifer Finney Boylan discusses in The Overparenting Epidemic that when parents try to drive their child to be perfect and do not allow them to make mistakes, it usually results in children who fear taking risks or failing. Helicopter parents become too invested in the lives of their children by doing their best to prevent their child from experiencing failure or danger in any way. Although they believe that they are preventing their child from feeling sad or disappointed, they are actually causing destruction, damaging the child’s self esteem and creating trust issues. These hyper-vigilant parents, or over involved, restrict their child’s freedom as a result of having a fear based perspective on the world which causes the child to have anxiety and create the same fear.

After reading two articles focusing on the families of death row inmates, the next article Children of the Condemned: Grieving the Loss of a Father to Death Row focuses on the children affected by having a father on death row. Beck and Jones (2008) examined the effects of a death sentence on children of the condemned. Additionally, the article discusses the concept of disenfranchised grief and nonfinite loss that form the children 's grief process. Beck and Jones (2008) conducted their study by interviewing nineteen children of death row inmates, through lawyers and having parental consent. The data from Beck and Jones (2008) study showed “The most prevalent theme was the children’s discussion of the importance of having their parent in their

Paris is a place full of adventure, excitement, and fun. From childhood into adulthood, all those things help to shape us as individuals and aid in the development process. Developmental science, according to the text, Exploring Lifespan Development by Laura Berk is, “a field of study devoted to understanding constancy and change throughout the lifespan” (Berk, 3). Naturalistic observation is one of the most valid ways of studying this field. It enables one to explore and analyze the theories and subjects within the field in an in-depth manner. Berk describes this as, “going into the field or natural environment and recording the behavior of interest” (22). This method of naturalistic observation is most effective when focused on a particular

Macoby and Martin’s simplification of parenting styles as seen in Bee’s The Growing Child (Source: Adapted from Macoby & Martin, 1983, Fifure 2, p.39.).