Helicopter parents

You're probably wondering what a helicopter parent is. The expression was coined in the book Parenting with Love and Logic: Teaching Children Responsibility by Foster W. Cline, M.D. and Jim Fay. It means that the parent is constantly hovering over its child, seeing to its smallest needs. They are never hard to reach, no matter what the child wants. In Scandinavia the term curling parent has the same meaning. The parents are constantly sweeping away their child's problems, never making them have to deal with anything.

I've chosen the name Helicopter Parents for my blog because it's the closest thing I can find to a word that describes the problem I want to discuss. Parents are trying to help their children, but are at the same time hurting them by not teaching them how to deal with problems. Another related topic that I'm going to discuss is parents who live through their children. In school, sports or job, there are cases where parents are pushing their kids too hard. It's hard to know what motivates the parents, or how the children feel about it. This is what I'll be talking about here for the next few weeks.