What are Helicopter Parents?
Have you known parents who are always in touch with their child, who takes decision on behalf their child, who are very concern and possessive, who thinks for their children and even follow them in their sleep? Yes, the above description suits well and describes the term “Helicopter Parent”. Like helicopter hover in air, here parents hover over their child. Children born between year 1980 and 1999 might have more chances to know “Helicopter Parent” closely. “Helicopter Parents” are very possessive and over protective. It is common of any normal parents to worry for their children but “Helicopter Parents” endlessly worry for their child. Common Characteristic of “Helicopter Parents”: · They are just like normal parents but the only difference is that they are over sensitive and concerned. · Some how they have fabricated this belief that their child always need them and they cannot take appropriate decision for themselves. · It is quite common for responsible parents to worry that child
They are the ones who pay such close attention to their children that they rush forward to try to prevent anything bad ever happening to them. Nor will they allow their children to learn from mistakes – sometimes even contrary to the children’s own wishes. Of course, it is natural for a parent to be concerned, and to contact the school and intervene when necessary, but the helicopter parent is simply not ready to recognise the bond of trust that exists between schools and their customers. Indeed, helicopter parents are often blessed with a sense of (almost papal) infallibility as far as their own opinions are concerned; or, they will cast themselves in a heroic mould as defenders of the faith against those who they think may be tyrannising and oppressing their (allegedly) helpless offspring. I did not come across the modern helicopter parent until I became senior deputy head at a thriving co-educational school in the Midlands. I soon began to notice that in a school of nearly 900 pupil
Many parents are naturally protective of their children, especially during critical rites of passage such as learning to drive, graduating from high school and getting accepted by the best college or university that meet their career goal. Some parents, however, have serious difficulties distancing themselves from their children’s lives, and tend to hover over them over-protectively. This constant hovering and over-protectiveness has led to naming this phenomenon helicopter parents. Helicopter parents are the polar opposite of absent or neglectful parents. They could rarely be accused of ignoring their children’s needs or not preparing them for adulthood. Helicopter parents tend to micromanage their children’s high school years, determining which extracurricular activities and course of study will improve their chances of acceptance at more selective colleges and universities. Instructors, school administrators and guidance counselors may be quite familiar with certain helicopter paren
