The impact helicopter parenting can have on children is significant, and these children are often forced into “self-improvement habits” such as tutoring, obsession with grades, or even multiple competitive sports. These habits can be hard to break when you, the child of helicopter parents, become a parent yourself.
Teachers need to deal with helicopter parents by providing space for them to air their anxieties. But this space must have set boundaries where the teacher knows they can give the parents time in order to listen and, when necessary, redirect the parent’s energy and anxiety.
Helicopter parents are overly active in their children’s lives. They tend to hover over their kids, being overprotective and paying close attention to everything they do. Lawnmower parents go out of their way to take down any possible obstacles to smooth a path, so their children never endure discomfort or hardships.
Culture affects parenting styles through the emphasis placed on honor, the community’s norms and beliefs, socially accepted methods of discipline, the community’s role in childrearing, the roles of mothers vs. fathers, and the roles of sons vs. daughters; each of these factors may/will vary across cultures.
Positive parenting encourages personal development by strengthening emotional bonds between parent and child. It has been shown that children with a healthy emotional bond have higher self-esteem, better grades, and stronger friendships. Overall, they are more well-rounded as individuals.
The Grey Rock method requires strictly unemotional communication and limiting interaction only to necessary communication about your child. It means responding in a bland, uninteresting way that will prompt a manipulative or narcissistic person to lose interest in making your life difficult.
Gentle parenting doesn’t work in its totality because it demands absolute perfection from the parent, denying their own need to be a functional human being. It can also come at the cost of other children in the family that might be behaving in a quieter and less outwardly emotional manner.
Free-range parenting is when parents let their child make most decisions, even if they may result in harm. Helicopter parenting is when parents are overly involved and attempt to control every aspect of their children’s lives. Free-range parenting is preferred because it at least helps to develop children’s creativity and encourages personal development.
The German parenting style is focused more on a child’s independence than anything else. Some of the ways German parents raise their children might even appear insensitive or uncaring to many American parents. This leads to lower stress levels among parents and more independent children in general.
Authoritarian parenting has effects that last into adulthood. Adults who were exposed to authoritarian parenting are more likely to have low self-esteem. They are also more likely to develop anxiety, depression, or substance abuse disorders. Some adults may also have trouble controlling their anger.