The Identification of Students with Helicopter Parents Helicopter parenting is the term used to describe parents who are overly involved in their child’s lives/decisions, to the point it becomes a detriment for the child. Helicopter parenting can facilitate a child’s over dependence on the parenting system (van Ingen, 2015). Severe cases of helicopter parenting stunts a student’s ability to learn and grow independently. Helicopter parents indirectly communicate to their children, that they are unable to handle their own life. This can cause students to be fearful of making choices on their own, without first receive feedback from their parental figure. Helicopter parenting can also have far-reaching and lasting effects on a child’s psyche, …show more content…
This is because helicopter parenting can come in different styles depending on many different facets. For example, some cultures put greater stress on academics, while others focus more on athletics. For the terms of this study, we will look to identify students of academic related helicopter parenting. General definitions describe helicopter parenting as people who are overly involved in a child’s life, and/or decision making of the child (Hightower, 2014). More elaborate definitions expand on this and touch on specific facets of helicopter parenting. Helicopter parenting is someone who is overly involved in their child’s academic experiences (Hiltz, 2015). Helicopter parents are vocal in their child’s education, and tend to volunteer at many school functions. Helicopter parenting of college or professional age individuals occurs, when the parental figure is in charge of managing their day to day activities (Manos, 2009). This includes aspects of their lives, such as class scheduling, and job searches. From these definitions, we can articulate a more whole definition of helicopter parents that accurately represents are topic of interest. Helicopter parenting occurs when parents or guardians are overly active in their child’s educational accomplishments, failures, and …show more content…
However, for children of helicopter parents this is often the opposite of what happens. Often these students feel overwhelmed, and feature high levels of anxiety (Reed, 2016). The support of a parent, for a child entering college, can be greatly beneficial in reducing stress, and helping them more easily adjust to their new responsibilities. However, with helicopter parents, they provide two much support, that hinders the student’s development and adjustment to new situations. Kayla Reed, et al (2016), developed a study to examine the well-being of college students with helicopter parents. Their study consisted of 461 college students, who were asked to complete an online questionnaire. This questionnaire included an depression inventory, a self-efficacy scale, a helicopter parenting survey, and a few other related scales. The results of their study indicated that the majority of participants had low levels of helicopter parentings. However, the findings for those, who did measure as having helicopter parents, findings were as expected. As per other research has indicated, these students had higher levels of anxiety, depression, low self-worth, and little to no coping
Helicopter parenting is often referred to as over parenting or bulldozing parenting, which means parents “who pay extremely close attention to a child's or children's experiences and problems, particularly at educational institutions” (“Helicopter Parenting”). These parents are included in all aspects of their children's lives and have a difficult time stepping back to let them be independent. Teenagers and college students who have these types of parents have been seen to have low self-confidence and difficulty adjusting to college. Studies have shown that young adults who’ve had parents take care of their problems and complete all their daily tasks have more negative effects than positive. Parents have to learn that it is okay to let their
In the article “Helicopter Parents Now Hover at the Office,” The Wall Street Journal columnist Sue Shellenbarger reveals that some parents have begun to involve themselves into their adult children’s job search. Shellenbarger explains that many parent have a hard time watching their child struggle since they have taken part in their daily lives for so long. She then describes that some children do not appreciate the hovering of their parents because the hovering prevents them from developing self independence.
Cutright, Marc. "From Helicopter Parent to Valued Partner: Shaping the Parental Relationship for Student Success." New Directions for Higher Education Winter 2008: 39-48. Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.
While her argument is strong in bringing valuable date of college students into place, there is no specific statistic on how many parents hover over their children; in fact, there might not be any way to measure how many parents are “helicopter parents.” There is a spectrum in Sociology that ranges from being permissive, authoritative, or authoritarian. A permissive parent is defined as being “nondemanding and noncontrolling” (University of New Hampshire). An authoritative is defined as being both “demanding and controlling, but they are also warm and receptive to their children’s needs.” while an authoritarian is considered to be “demanding and highly controlling, but detached and unreceptive to their children’s needs” (UNH). From Lythcott-Haims’ discussion about the girl having her father control her life including her major in economics, her father would probably be described as an authoritarian parent with him not letting her make her decisions. Even though this spectrum may bring a better idea on what kinds of parents are, it still doesn’t show numbers on how many parents fall into each category and that may because of how difficult it would be to fall into one parent style when it’s possible to fall in the middle of certain categories. Because of this, the number of helicopter parents might not be
According to Carolyn Daitch, Ph.D., director of the Center for the Treatment of Anxiety Disorders Helicopter parents refers to "a style of parents who are over focused on their children". She also added "They typically take too much responsibility for their children's experiences and, specifically, their successes or failures"(n.d). Helicopter parents is all about ‘hovering’ over their children in an effort to become involved in their life that involves over controlling and overprotecting. This is a control in order to protect their children from harm and disappointment in today’s society. These parents also find it hard to let go, won’t allow children to make their own mistakes in life and also placed their own identity
Helicopter parenting is a phenomenon that has taken the United States by storm! This style of parenting raises children to be dependent on their parents well into their mature years. Julia Lynthcott- Haims explains the four main factors that are responsible for this shift in parenting and childhood in the excerpt “The Four Cultural Shifts that Led to the Rise of the Helicopter Parent” in her book How to Raise an Adult. The “shifts” Haims proposes are juxtaposed with examples of how parenting has evolved to convey how the childrearing has transformed. The author attributes the helicopter phenomenon to four events that began in 1980s: child abductions becoming publicized, the idea that children were not doing enough schoolwork,
Throughout the history of mankind, one thing has separated us humans from animals, which is parenting. In today’s world, you will not find any other animal that will take care of it’s offspring for 18 plus years, well except for bonobo monkeys. Now it is normal for parents to keep their kids from childbirth till the end of their education. However this brings up the question on where to draw the line, and what is the right way to raise a kid. There is one type of parenting that goes beyond the call of duty and it is called helicopter parenting. A brief description of helicopter parenting is basically a parent who is over protective and pays extreme close attention to their child’s life. Although helicopter parenting has some positive results, the repercussions of this parenting style can be harmful to the welfare of child’s development.
Parenting styles refer to a set of different manners in which parents raise their children. There are four parenting styles including authoritarian, authoritative, permissive, and uninvolved parenting. The authoritarian parenting style is based on the implementation of rules, and on the idea that all rules should be followed without exceptions. Similarly, authoritative parenting style implements rules, but the child feelings are taken in consideration and reasonable exceptions to the rule are allowed. On the other hand, in permissive parenting style, there is implementation of rules, but they are rarely encouraged to be followed. Lastly, in uninvolved parenting style, there is a lack of engagement between parents and children, and there are
This style may make become difficult for the child in the future and hinder their ability to become independent. These parents pay very close attention to what their child or children do and are going through, especially with their education. Because of this, it may end up giving the child problems in their adult life. In the article “‘Helicopter Parenting’ Hurts Kids Regardless of Love or Support, Study Says.” it states, “it also suggested that lack of warmth can take the situation from bad to worse, amplifying low self-esteem and high-risk behaviors such as binge drinking.”. As well as “including such over-involved habits such as solving children’s problems and making important decisions for them, while warmth was measured in terms of availability to talk and spending quality time.” Unlike authoritative parenting this parenting leaves no space for the child to grow and explore. Helicopter parents are constantly hovering over their children causing them to become dependent on the parent. Helicopter parents stop their children for learning essential skills in order to gain independence for their adult life. Unlike authoritative parenting, helicopter parenting is unequal in the balance between control the parent has and freedom the child is allowed to have. Over-controlling their children instead of finding a balance is the reason why this parenting style is not the most effective or best
Levine states “a child cannot possibly develop resilience when his parents are constantly at his side, interfering with the development of autonomy, self-management and coping skills” (Levine, 2008 p.77). She says, affluent children don’t have the practical tools needed to survive on their own, they haven’t learned how to deal with problems, and they value others opinions over their own (Levine, 2008 p5). When parents feel like they have to step in to protect the health and welfare of their adolescent child they leave the child feeling disrespected or untrustworthy by their protective parents. (Levine, 2008 P223).
Mothers go through all sorts of stress. While parenting can be overwhelmingly stressful, it’s important to consider the possible implications of our actions and how our responses to situations can affect how our children feel physically and mentally. Recent research (2014) has investigated some aspects of how a mother’s physical response to a stressful situation could effect her infant. Knowing that infants can indirectly pick up a mother’s personal reaction can keep a mother aware of her actions and ultimately provide better care for the infant.
When Amy Chua, a professor at Yale, wrote her personal memoir in 2011 called Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, controversy arose regarding the topic of an extreme parenting type called a “Tiger Mom” (Tiger Mom). When The Wall Street Journal posted an excerpt from Chua’s book on their website, it received over 7,000 comments both positive and negative including death threats (Extreme Parenting). In her book, Chua describes is forcing her 7-year old daughter to stay up all night without bathroom or drink breaks until she was able to play a certain piano piece (Extreme Parenting). Her daughter rebels, drops violin, and takes up tennis (Luscombe). Extreme parents exert great pressure on their child to meet expectations, and if they are not met, the child may be punished (Hatter). The MacMillan Dictionary defines a tiger mom as “a very strict mother who makes her children work particularly hard and restricts their free time so they continually achieve the highest grades,” (Tiger Mother).
Diana Baumrind’s theory on parenting was defined by four different types. The types are, authoritative style, authoritarian style, permissive style, and uninvolved style. My parents have an authoritative style. Authoritative is when the parents give certain limits and restrictions but keep it to a minimum and are usually pretty reasonable, providing reasoning for their decisions. This type of parenting style expresses tenderness and warmth. When the rules come into conflict with something, authoritative parents bend the rule more often than other types of parents.
In this day and age, the media labels overbearing parents as helicopter parents, and the label itself has taken on a negative light due to the guilt by association. The ‘popular’ definition of helicopter parenting come from the ‘extreme’ cases (Jayson 5). The extreme cases in the news are just that, extreme cases; they do not depict helicopter parenting in general, and have been given the name Blackhawks (“Liftoff for ‘Helicopter’ Parents”). The idea of helicoptering has become a misguided ‘negative portrait’ by media using the term and ‘over parenting synonymously’, but the two terms should be used so. They are very different; over parenting is when a parent does not let the child think for themselves (Aucoin). Over parenting and helicopter parenting are not synonyms, but they are not quite antonyms. Helicoptering can become oppressive parents quite easily. Another side of over parenting is the side that ‘expects… immediate compliance’ to orders without giving reasoning. This style can cause below average ‘self-esteem… self-reliance and… social skills’ (McDevitt and Ormrod). The regular helicopter parenting is more common than what would be assumed as a study shows ‘60 to 70 percent’ of college parents have ‘some helicoptering behavior...
When does helping become hovering? The generation of “Helicopter Parents” is becoming more and more prevalent in families. A helicopter parent is a guardian who hangs over the head of their college-age son or daughter. Helicopter parents typically do whatever is necessary to lead their child to success. This controversy has many suggesting it is actually making a positive impact on the next generation, some think not.