How Parents Can Get Out of the Helicopter Seat

You can’t read the daily news without encountering stories of school shootings, bullying, Amber alerts for child abductions, and news of fatal sports injuries. Despite efforts by schools to address bullying positively, we currently have government leaders who model name-calling, mockery, and marginalizing others as part of their daily conversation and tweets.  It’s enough to make any reasonable person unreasonably anxious. It makes already anxious parents want to wrap their kids in bubble wrap to eliminate all risks and keep them under their watchful eye, often winning for themselves a not complimentary term — “helicopter parents.” Let’s be clear. If you’ve been accused of being a “helicopter parent,” it’s only because you want to protect your kids. You love them. You want to keep them safe in a world that feels increasingly hostile and unpredictable. You aren’t wrong to be anxious. But carried too far, protection can be detrimental. Kids who are overprotected from risks are also “protected” from learning what they need to know if they are to protect themselves.  How to Get out of the Helicopter Seat The key to making kids safe is not to eliminate risks but to build their resilience. Our job as parents is to give our kids the tools to keep themselves safe, not to do it for them. Here are some reminders to help you bring your helicopter in for a landing.  Keep things in perspective: News sources don’t emphasize the positive, so it’s eas...
Source: World of Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Anxiety and Panic Children and Teens Parenting anxious parents Coping Skills helicopter parent Media overprotective parent Resilience Source Type: blogs