HELICOPTER MOM

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Have you ever had one of those moments when you realize you are One of Those People?

It all started last summer when we realized we were moving to a new school district. My friend Joan - whom I've known from college - lives in the district and in fact now her son and my daugher are in the same 4th grade class. The world is quite small, or so say some singing dollies at Disneyland.

At any rate, I called Joan up and asked her about the 4th grade teachers, trying to figure out what we would need for Sarah. She was describing one or the other, and said "Mrs. So-and-so isn't too good with the helicopter parents."

I had never heard this term before and so I asked Joan what she meant. And guess what! I'm a complete behind-the-times loser because the term is actually in Wikepedia:

A helicopter parent is a term for a person who pays extremely close attention to his or her child or children, particularly at educational institutions. They rush to prevent any harm from befalling them or letting them learn from their own mistakes, sometimes even contrary to the children's wishes. They are so named because, like a helicopter, they hover closely overhead, rarely out of reach whether their children need them or not.

I thought it was kinda funny at the time.

Well flash forward to parent-teacher conferences this year. We have had meetings at the school about Sarah's progress and Becca's progress. And there was a moment when it occurred to me: I am a helicopter mom! Sarah has some focus issues in class (she's chatty), but she hasn't developed independent study habits because we have in some ways spoon-fed her! We all need a healthy dose of behavior modification around here.

Meanwhile, Becca CAN'T be left alone or she will inevitably break, bruise, botch, or butcher something or someone... so perhaps the hovering is actually healthy in that case...