Helicopter parenting is the practice of hovering over you child(ren) and swooping down when you feel it's needed. The downside of this is your child never learns how to fail (or succeed!) on his own. It tends to manifest itself in more affluent communities, although that's not always the case.
Where I live, the helicopter parents are actually really bad. So much so that normal, non helicopter parents are made to feel inadequate because they refuse to play along. I am not a helicopter parent. I feel that my child needs to learn how to succeed on his own. His dad and I will not always be there for him, and I want him to realize that.
This morning, I took him to a local county park for camp, and I was given the option of leaving, or staying. Um...an hour doing shopping that I needed to do? Or staying with my child and following him around? Whoo hoo! Target here I come! I left. I signed the waiver and trusted that he would be fine and I would see him in an hour. So I did my shopping, came back, and I was completely amazed by how many parents were still there! A full half to three quarters of the parents didn't leave. Really? And these kids were mostly between 5-10, so definitely old enough to be on their own for an HOUR. Then, all these parents were there, and stood right by their children, so that they could litereally reach out and touch them, if needed (for what, I have no idea, but there you go).
What do you think? Are you a helicopter parent?
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