This term sounds funny but it is a serious problem with parents that they disregard. Being caring and protective for your offspring is a natural feeling but overprotective and watchful nature is bad for your child’s growth and development. There is a term for such a behavior called ‘Helicopter Parenting’ where parents like to keep an eye on their kid’s life even if he/she is an adult. This may form a huge gap between you two which gets unbridgeable with time. All parents should read out these signs to find out if they are helicopter parents and improve.
You Never Leave Your Child Alone
Do you accompany your child to birthday parties, events? Do you go with your teen even if he is going to a nearby place? Do you keep texting your college-going student until he’s home? These signs show that you’re a helicopter parent.
If you are a parent to a small kid, then this behavior is acceptable but to a certain point. Sometimes it is required to leave your kids alone so that they learn to manage things on their own.
You interfere in your child’s fights
If your kid comes home complaining about a fight with a fellow student, what would you do? A helicopter parent would ask the child to call the student’s parents to complain. This isn’t the right thing to do. Let your kid fight his/her own battles and resolve them or else this will create a dependency. You might not be available every time to their rescue, right?
You pressurize them for success but not prepare for failure
Success and failure are two sides of a coin. You won’t be successful all the time. There may come a moment of failure too which one must learn to handle. If you scold your child for his mistakes, your parenting is not right. Teach them the perks of both success and failure and promote the behavior of healthy competition.
You do their school assignments
Your kid has got a school assignment to say a craft project but you end up completing it instead of just extending help. In some cases, parents solve subject-related questions is the child is stressed. In order to lighten their load, you are hampering their problem-solving skills. This stress is healthy for their brain which would boost his cognitive functions.
You’re overprotective
“Don’t go there, it is unsafe”, “Come to the home before sunset”, “Don’t go to the park alone”, Don’t ride so fast”, etc. are some statements that a helicopter parent makes. It is necessary to be concerned about their safety but overprotective nature is bad. This hampers their development.