Are You a Helicopter Parent

“I will never be one of those mums who hover around their child the whole time and doesn’t allow them to grow up” and yet what do we do? We find ourselves “hovering” at every opportunity!

I remember once being in the park with my little girl – there she was on the climbing frame and I was hovering in case she fell off. I saw her start to wobble and thought “Oh no she’s going to fall!” and ran towards her. She DID fall but she was fine, she got up, brushed herself down and climbed back up! But I’m not just talking being careful in the park or when the children are likely to touch hot things in the kitchen. Have a look at the following list and see if you could be a helicopter parent!

You Could be a Helicopter Parent if you…

Naturally, there is always a need to be cautious with the activities our kids do but by keeping them wrapped up in cotton wool, you are certainly not doing them any favours. They need to experience some difficult situations sometimes – it’s how a child learns and develops into an adult. You wouldn’t want your child to leave home, not knowing how to do anything, not knowing what to do to survive, would you?

Parenting is very hard, isn’t it? Especially with the first child because we have nothing to compare it to. We can only go by what our parents advise us to do, or our sister or grandma! Other than that, we are flying by the seat of our pants! Therefore, we can be forgiven if we “hover”!So, how do you stop “hovering”?

Think about all the things you do for your child that he COULD do for himself!Accept that he is not perfect – his homework does not always have to be perfect!Let your child fight their own battles. Don’t interfere unless you have to!Let your child take risks occasionally.Leave the room if you feel tempted to interfere in something your child may be finding difficult.

As parents, we instinctively want to protect our youngsters and keep them safe. Sometimes, without even realising it, this can lead us to become Helicopter Parents. The trick is to recognise what we are doing and then back off! Because, no matter how much we want to, we really can’t protect them all the time, all we can do is equip them to protect themselves the best they can. And, if you think that you HAVE been a helicopter parent for several years and that your child needs a bit of help to overcome this, you know where I am!