What is helicopter parenting? And how you can avoid it!

“Be the parent today that you want your kids to remember tomorrow.”

Whenever I went to the school for an event, a neatly laid out table, displaying the best project works from my boy’s batch were displayed. Eager kids nudged their parents who had a look that would shame the parent like me. My kids have never had any of their works displayed or showcased.

A glance at the project work, you would know in an instant that probably the parents put in more effort than the child did. In the quest to be the best, we are scared that our child may not be right. So, we end up taking a remedial action without even giving them a chance to prove themselves. The apt term coined…helicopter parenting. So, what is helicopter parenting? And how can you avoid it!

Let me add that I am guilty of it too. Trust me, it’s a well-meaning action, but deep down I realise that I am probably making him fell not so good about his self-esteem.

Do you remember the playground you spent the evening swinging recklessly? Of course, there were times you got hurt, but did your parents stop you from going out the next day? We grew up perfectly fine, yet we want to protect our children. Their playgrounds are set on soft turf or are padded so that they don’t get hurt. Forget about them feeling the wind in the hair when they cycle. They’re probably padded with that extra layer of protective material that they’ll want to save before they save themselves if they fall.

What is helicopter parenting? And how you can avoid it!

So, what can we do to stop being that over-protective helicopter parent and let the children know that it’s perfectly fine to falter and learn from their mistakes? If the question ” What is helicopter parenting?” is on your mind, read this post to know more. And the good news is that you can avoid helicopter parenting! Here are 5 ways to let your children learn without being over-bearing and over-protective.

Let them learn from the mistakes

So my boys are at a phase where their teachers are always right. If I tell them what they wrote in the homework sheets wasn’t the right thing, pat came the reply, “but my teacher said that this was the right way to do it.” I let it be and a cross from the red pen made them understand that it was a mistake they did. If you choose to correct them all the time, there will no room for them to learn from their mistakes. They’ll never know what it is to make a mistake!

Let them take responsibilities

Children can take responsibilities that are age-appropriate. Has it ever happened that your child comes back home miffed because YOU did not remind him to complete an assignment? Happens with me! All I had to remind the children was that it was them who went to school and wrote the homework notes. I could remind them a couple of times to complete the assignment but not do it for them! Two punishments later, they were sorted!

Explain failure to your child

Failure is not something that one should be ashamed about, everyone learns from their failure. Sometime in our life, we did too! Use that as an example to explain to your child that it is alright to fail. Tell them what you learnt from the failure and how it changed things for you. Sharing experiences, real life stories can make you a model for the child. It will teach them how to handle disappointment and frustration and disappointment. As parents, we really are the best teachers and influencers, so be that good example.

Want to know more about helicopter parenting? Want to know more about what you should do to let go and stop being over protective? Read the rest of the post that has been published on TheQuint.