Helicopter Parents Making Kids Less Engaged in School

Too much involvement in a child's life can have a negative impact on his/her studies.

Helicopter parents or parents with a tendency to over involve or overprotect their children are actually making them less engaged in school and also making children to skip class or submit assignments late.

"They may already be less engaged in school, so the parent is stepping in to try to help or it could be parents have hovered so long that the child is not taking their own initiative," Laura Padilla-Walker, a researcher from Brigham Young University told Detroit Free Press. "I don't want parents to get the message not to be involved in their children's lives at this age. They are very much needed. The key is, is it joint decision-making or is it the parent doing it?"

For analyzing the negative impact of helicopter parenting on children's education, Padilla-Walker and Larry Nelson looked at 438 students from four universities across the country and their parents (376 mothers and 303 fathers.)

For a majority of children (one-fourth) and parents (one-third), parents made the most important decisions in the children's lives.

According to the investigators, by over involving in their children's lives, parents are taking away the opportunity of the children to develop the skills needed for a successful life.

"It would seem that emerging adults should be personally invested in their own growth and development by solving their own problems with roommates, making their own decisions about employment, and seeking their own help from professors," the study authors, said in a press release appeared in Medical Xpress. "By not doing so, emerging adults may be robbing themselves of the experiences and practice necessary to develop skills that are essential for success in marriage, careers, and adult social interactions."

Findings of the study have been published in the Journal of Adolescence.

This is not the first study to highlight the impact of over-parenting on parents and children. Highlighting the negative effects of helicopter parenting, researchers from the Centre for Emotional Health at Macquarie University found children of helicopter parents at a higher risk of developing anxiety later in life.