If you get a call from your child’s school letting you know that your precious angel plagiarized an essay, and you throw a fit, demand a do-over, and blame the teacher, you may be a Helicopter Parent.  If little Johnny comes home with a “C” on an assignment, and you are just positive that his theory on bubble-blowing is a Nobel Prize winning composition, so you call the teacher, and threaten to get her fired, you might just be a Helicopter Parent.  If you see that your perfect daughter earned a zero on a project, but you are certain that your baby would never fail to turn in an assignment, so you call the principal to demand that action be taken against her horrible teacher (only to find the missing assignment one week later, stuffed down in her backpack), you might be…nope…you ARE a Helicopter Parent!

I’ve dealt with a few parents like this (they are the minority, thank goodness!), and I feel bad for their children.  Here’s the reality, Mom and Dad:  Humans make mistakes.  It’s how we learn to survive in this world.  Are you doing them any favors by fighting their battles for them?  No, all you’re teaching them is that they don’t have to take responsibility for their actions, because you will always step in and “fix” it for them.  Look around.  You see products of Helicopter Parents everywhere.  They have trouble holding down jobs, and do not typically form healthy relationships in the real world.  Real work is a foreign concept to them, since they’ve always had you to take care of the “hard” stuff for them.  As adults, they don’t know how to deal with failure.

I have an idea!  Let’s teach our children to take responsibility for their own choices.  Help them learn that all of their actions have consequences, both positive and negative.  Show them how to be humble and selfless.  Teach them to take constructive criticism, and model hard work and appropriate behavior to them.  Let them see that you are not perfect, and help them understand that they won’t be either.  Through your example, they can learn to make good choices, and do the right thing.  One of the best things you can do for them is teach them to fly on their own!  Seriously.