Helicopter parenting

August 16, 2010

Kara Powell
Kara Powell

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A friend of mine sent me a Forbes article about how being a helicopter parent is viewed as being a “good” parent when it comes to divorce and custody settlements.

I’m all for parents’ involvement in their kids’ lives.  I try to be involved in my own kids’ lives and I appreciate parents at our church who track with what we’re doing in youth ministry and support it.

But one of my life mantras is that balance is something we swing through on our way to the other extreme.  And that seems to be what’s happening with parenting.  Involvement has become over-involvement.  Support has become smothering.

I’m no psychologist, but I’m  guessing that fear and guilt are two of the major motivations behind helicopter parenting.  How can we parent based on love and God’s grace instead?

©2010 Fuller Youth Institute

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  • Douglas Koch

    Hellicopters are necessary for younger children. Sunday at church I witnessed a mother swoop down on an escaping toddler in our coffee shop area. A little latter I witnessed the same toddler go sprawling on the floor and Grandma swooped to a close proximity and began offering gentle encouragement to the child. After a while the little one got up and continued on his way. The trick of parenting is to chose the correct model to follow. Are there any parenting hellicopters out there? Are there other aircraft then we should emulate at different phases of a childs growth. How about fighters, bombers, cargo, flight training, reconnaissance, moon exploration missiles?

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