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Are Helicopter Parents Ruining a Generation?





“Initially, helicopter parenting appears to work,” says Julie Lythcott-Haims, author of How to Raise an Adult. “As a kid, you’re kept safe, you’re given direction, and you might get a better grade because the parent is arguing with the teacher.” But, ultimately, parents end up getting in the child’s way. In the first episode of Home School, The Atlantic’s new animated series on parenting, Lythcott-Haims explains how helicopter parenting strips children of agency and the ability to cultivate their own tools to navigate the world.

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30 thoughts on “Are Helicopter Parents Ruining a Generation?”

  1. yes, they are, F36 here, and when I get home late and don't send a message saying "hey, I will be home late", they think I'm gone forever, yes living in he same hoem doesn't help.

  2. Victim of a helicopter parent here. Realized too late they fucked me. Dealing with them in adulthood SUCKS. Ghosting them when I finally live on my own.

  3. Stop arguing with teachers. Instead learn them how to do better, how to sustain frustration and how to get up and to go forward after a failure. Nowadays parents don’t do that anymore, spoil kids, bully teachers who end up resigning and we are raising a new generation of narcissistic people unable to create a family, to maintain professional and personal relationships, unable to face all the obstacles in life. When you can’t do it what do you do ? Well you end up taking alcohol, coke, violent behavior. Etc etc as parents we mustn’t forget that we are supposed to pass away before our children so our purpose is their autonomy and not our control.

  4. As a child that was allowed to fail (sometimes a bit too much if im being honest), I find myself much more self sufficient than my fiancé who was raised by helicopter parents. He struggles greatly with decision making, as he's so afraid of failing at anything that he constantly has to ask anyone if he's doing it right. We're in our 30s. That being said, helicopter parenting is becoming much more prevalent. How can we expect this generation to handle things when we're gone if we don't teach them how to advocate for themselves?

  5. What comes first, the helicopter parent or the anxious, developmentally delayed, dysfunctional child? A mom’s brain is designed to respond to their baby’s cry. These mechanisms evolved for a reason. So take these merely correlational or observational studies with a grain of salt. There is no bigger target than the ones we mothers wear on our backs.

  6. The most unfortunate life of a child is to have both parents who lack exposure, negligible courage, have personal relationship (PR) only at their level and are always fearful of children failure. My life….lost.🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

  7. Being a split personality, I refused to marry with fear in my mind about my shortcomings.
    1) Over Possession and extreme love.
    2) Strict, Authoritarian, uncompromising. 😊😊😊

  8. Helicopter parents is why you start dating with age gaps like a nervous inexperienced teenager.

    And society calls you a fucked up creep despite you both being above 18+.

    I feel i have to hide a number for society after what parents did to me.

    Well age is a number right ?

  9. My mom is a helicopter parent. It's gone on too long and I'm finally getting a third party involved (therapist) as she doesn't know when to STFU. After trying so many years to get her to respect boundaries, my patience has finally dissipated.

    I believe this clip 100%. Helicopter parenting is counterproductive and toxic.

  10. I'm a mellinial and this was me. I understand my parents loved me but the way they controlled and punished me for seeking independence ultimately lost me an entire decade of failure and demoralization in the pursuit of personal growth

  11. Honestly, this book ‘Raising Warriors: Preparing Your Children For a Godly Life’ gave me the encouragement I needed to stay strong in raising my kids with Christian values, it’s comforting to know Im not alone on this journey

  12. Am I right to think that it's mostly mothers, rather than fathers, that do helicopter parenting, and sons, rather than daughters, that suffer most from it ? Daughters seem to be better equipped to resist.

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