Helicopter Parents: Are They a Good Thing?
The Minnesota Headhunter has a great blog article on how parents who hover over their kids and therefore can be described as being helicopter parents are getting a bad rap.
As a volunteer at the University of Minnesota (Twin Cities), he has a lot of contact with Gen Y college students and their parents and feels that they can do their kids a lot more harm than good by giving them rope but not enough to hang themselves with. That's a great analogy and his advice is especially meaningful because it comes from someone in the recruiting world who works both with college students and their parents yet is neither a college student nor a parent. He's knowledgeable yet objective. And he's got a lot of wisdom.
This synopsis of the article is not representative of the article itself. He does not indicate that helicopter parents are anything but good for their kids, and this synopsis actually misquotes the original writer by saying, "[the writer] feels that they can do their kids a lot more harm than good by giving them rope but not enough to hang themselves with." In the original article, the writer actually states, "my analogy is that I try to give them enough rope but not enough they can hang themselves with." His advice included that he welcomes parental involvement. Please read the actual article at http://www.mnheadhunter.com/mh/2007/12/helicopter-pare.html