There have been many articles* on how helicopter parenting creates a child that is unable to think for himself and becomes easily overwhelmed by the demands of the real world. Lots of solutions have also been offered to counteract this mode of parenting.
How to avoid helicopter parenting?
Hmm…
In my humble opinion, I think the best solution is ….
TO HAVE MANY CHILDREN!
Preferably one after another in quick succession. Lol! I know, I know, it is often too late for these parents.
But seriously, these are the times, I thank God for convicting us to leave our family planning to Him. I think i would be sorely tempted to be the model helicopter parent if I had 2 children, maybe 3. It is so easy to get caught up on the happiness of the child that we forget about character building and resilience.
Have many children!
But with 7 children, each coming along on average, every other year, it is hard to have any semblance of helicopter parenting even if I wanted to. It just isn’t physically or mentally possible.
And that is a good thing! For both my children and myself!
Leaning on God
I am forced (in a very good way) to keep on leaning on God, whispering back to Him in tears and desperation at times, “Lord, these are your children!”
I know it is hard to balance protecting our children, and wanting them to learn resilience and real life coping strategies for handling the real world. But for their sake, we need to stop cleaning up their mess.
Tough love
They need to learn to cope with the failures and stresses of life, without anyone coming to their rescue. This is tough love. There are consequences to every decision they make and the earlier they learn it, the better it is for them.
Let’s not do them an act of disservice by rescuing them all the time. My older children say I am morbid and show shades of my mother, but I am known to say to them, “What if I am not here anymore?” when they become lazy and overdependent on me.
Your turn
Have you had to fight the helicopter parenting syndrome?
* Some of the articles on helicopter parenting that I recently came across include, Kids of Helicopter Parenting are Sputtering Out and Teen Spirit.
2 Comments on Helicopter Parenting
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hi! have been a silent reader for a while, and I’m so amazed at your strength and parenting abilities! Indeed, we need to lean onto God’s grace…..even if it’s for the intentional choice of not helicopter-parenting! Haha. Bless you.
Thanks for dropping by. You speak too kindly 😉 The truth is if I can do this motherhood adventure, so can anyone else, as long as we are tapped into God. May you be blessed by what’s written.