That’s why it grabbed my attention.

I don’t get riled up, I just want the best for those students who aren’t getting the chance to experience certain things for themselves.

And I do get upset over certain other parenting issues too. It’s even more focused in my mind, what with the prospect of becoming a father later in the year.

Parents want the best for their children – obviously – but that doesn’t mean they always manage it. Nobody’s perfect.

Maybe the difficulty is because ‘Helicopter parenting’ is just a convenient term for something more complex. Something along the lines of helicopter parenting exists, though I don’t know to what extent.

Okay, here’s another related questions. Why does this idea succeed so effectively in riling people up? I always get a jolt when I see these articles. On reflection, however, I wonder why? From an objective sense I shouldn’t care. I don’t get this upset over other parenting issues. It’s not like kids of helicopter parents are getting unfair advantages (seems like this behavior hurts more than helps.) So what about it is so attention-grabbing?

Just a thought experiment…

In my mind, that’s an unhealthy number.

Of these cases, it appeared to me to boil down to one of two common reasons:

1. Parents fail to ‘let go’ and allow independence;
2. Student was not interested/inspired/enthusiastic, so left their parents to sort everything out.

Point 2 could be the result of knowing their parents won’t let go, so they’ll just go along with whatever Mum & Dad decide…who knows?

So while I don’t think we’re witnessing a growing trend, I still see an unacceptable number of young adults being mollycoddled by their parents.

As for the article…you’re right to question it on shaky acecdotal ‘evidence’. But with an increasing trend of UK adults regularly staying in the family home until their late 20s, or even 30s, I wouldn’t be surprised if parents were beginning to involve themselves in the matter of graduate employment far more than they would have done in the past.

I’ve followed a lot of the press surronding the helicopter parent phenomenon, and I’ll admit, I’m skeptical. Two things catch my attention. First, the articles never seem to provide empirical evidence that this is really a trend. Instead, they rely on anecdotal reports of a couple incidents. Second, people (myself included) seem to get great pleasure out of emphasizing that they did not have helicopter parents.

To me, this adds up to suspicion — that this might be a phenomenon driven more by reader interest than a real trend. (Standard tabloid journalism, make up something that really makes people upset or indignant, and they’ll eat it up).

Or, maybe not. But until I see more evidence, I remain wary…

What do you think?

- Cal

Whenever I read/hear about how parents “prefer” their children to conduct research nearer to home, or how they’d “prefer” their children to choose an industrial training company in their home state, I thank God for a very understanding Mum