Helicopter Parents Need to be Grounded for the Children's sake

What is a helicopter parent? One who hovers over their kids, micromanaging every aspect of their lives. They fly into school in attack mode ready to confront the teacher or coach for "unfair" treatment of their kids. They obsess over teacher assignments. Some demand that their child be moved to another class before the school year has even begun.

One problem with this approach is that it doesn't help teens develop their own decision-making skills. Kids gain confidence if they can solve problems themselves. Plus if we solve our children's problems like bringing in homework they forgot at home, we are not teaching them responsibility. Even worse, some kids then learn to feel a sense of entitlement to be taken care of this way when they drop the ball.

Parents should help kids learn to make their own decisions. Our role as parents is to prepare our children for life where they will be on their own in the big bad world. When I see parents whose children cower under their skirts or in between their legs, I worry about that child's future as an independent member of society. We need to build confidence and independence in our children even if it is emotionally difficult to do so. As parents we want to be needed by our kids but fostering this to extreme degrees is bad for the child.