Helicopter Moms: When is it Too Much?

Everyone has that friend with either a super controlling father or a helicopter mom. From stalking their Facebook, to having access to text messages, parents are taking stalking their children to the next level. A helicopter mom is a hovering and controlling mother who is way too involved in their child’s life. Whether the mother is just trying to live vicariously through their child, or trying to keep them out of harm’s way, they will stop at nothing to achieve their goal.

            My cousin finally put her daughter in public school, and since then it has been nonstop drama. She calls my mom at least five times a day to talk about the drama occurring at the middle school like it’s her own business, when in reality it’s not. She reads her daughters texts messages, follows her around wherever she goes to check up on her, and even has the password to her Facebook. I may be wrong, but I think that is a little extreme. In my opinion, children that are shown no freedom are more likely to rebel and be sneaky because they have no other way of having fun. I’ve learned by my mom not being a helicopter mom, and my dad not being over controlling, I actually learn from my mistakes instead of having them prevented by not being able to make them at all.

            However, with the world we live in today it is understandable why some parents are so protective over their children. My uncle said, “If I had children, I would have to homeschool them. With all the stuff going on lately it would be too scary to let them into the world”. And while that may be true, over protecting will only hurt the kids. I have friends in my church that are homeschooled and not really allowed to do anything, no TV, no internet, no cellphones, and when they go into public they have no idea what to do. I also agree that trust should be earned, but if the child is doing nothing wrong it is no fair to punish the child by invading their privacy and trying to control every aspect in their life. Over controlling, helicopter parents do more harm than good.