Helicopter Parents and the different types
A parent who is overly involved in the life of their child. They tend to hover over their every movement and decision. Often times they take control and do tasks on their behalf. They also enjoy broadcasting the details and events of their child's life to anyone who will listen. Helicopter Parents do not ease up with age, in fact as the child grows up the tighter their grasp becomes.
Types of Helicopter Parents
1. Reconnaissance Helicopter Parents
Reconnaissance helicopter parents get involved in their college graduate's job search or employment in unobtrusive ways. They may gather information about a company, create their child's resume, offer advice on interviewing, or quietly attend a career fair.
2. Low Altitude Helicopter Parents
Low altitude helicopter parents use posturing or positioning tactics to assert themselves. They may submit a resume on their child's behalf or may even advocate for a child's promotion.
3. Guerrilla Warfare Helicopter Parents
These parents are most aggressive in their tactics. They may attend their child's job interview (or at least attempt to do so) or contact a hiring manager to negotiate terms of the offer.
How to Give Up Your Hovering Practices
Helicopter parenting is about managing your anxiety--not doing what's best for your kids. Micromanaging, shielding kids from pain, and preventing them from making mistakes, however, is a bad idea--at any age. Studies clearly show kids raised by helicopter parents don't fare as well in life.
Failure missed opportunities, and natural consequences are opportunities to build mental strength. So whether you're raising a 12-year-old or a 21-year-old, step aside. The ultimate goal of parenting should be to work yourself out of a job.
It's never too late to give up the bad habits that are robbing your children of mental strength.
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