I’m not here to apologize and tell you all how wrong I am. I like being a ‘Helicopter Parent’. I had kids for a reason, to spend time with them, to watch them grow, to help them grow, to show them right from wrong.
Let’s face it, I was raised in an age where being a helicopter parent wasn’t a ‘thing’. My parents loved me, but having kids in their time was different. It was almost like it was part of a job description for marriage. Get married. Buy House. Have kids. Start your addictions. Die with more money than everyone else. Hello, Baby Boomers!
I didn’t want to be the same parent that my parents were to me. Not that I disliked my upbringing. I had great freedoms. It taught me to be very independent. I don’t fault my parents at all, I turned out just fine. They parented like most parents parented during that time. Kids were meant to be seen, not heard. The parents were the priority, not the kids. Different time, I survived. I’m a happy and productive citizen to the world.
But that’s not me. I wanted to go to my kids first preschool holiday party and watch him try to figure out Christmas, even though you couldn’t use that word at the party and he was Jewish. I wanted to coach his little kickers soccer team, where we didn’t keep score and everyone got a medal and a snack. I wanted to spend my free time, with my kids. Unapologetically so! If my kids were outside playing, I didn’t want to miss their joys and falls. I also didn’t want the pedophile on the next block running off with them. Since I know there is a pedophile one block over from the pedophile site online. My parents didn’t know this, ignorance was bliss.
I’m proud to be a Helicopter Parent. I’ve seen most of the great moments in my kids life. I won’t regret this when I’m lying on my death bed. I don’t think my kids will like me any more than I liked my parents at their age, that’s just life. They’ll hate me as a teen, they’ll love me again once they find out it sucks to be an adult. I’m sure they’ll respect me more as they get older, the way I respect my parents the older I get. I’m doing it differently than my parents, not better.
Okay, gotta go, I need to ‘help’ put some details into my kids science project.
Timmy, you don’t seem to know what a helicopter parent is. It’s a bit like a stage mom or agent. It means you look for a job for your kid and then go to the interview and arguing his case for him. Not sometimes either but all the time and aggressively.
Also, I think you are over-generalizing about the generations as most people do. I don’t remember anyone whose home was run by the rule that children are to be seen and not heard. And I certainly don’t remember any home in which the parents rather than the kids were the priority.
I’ve heard of these things but you think it was common and maybe it was where you grew up but not to everyone in the same generation.
I don’t know Tim since I’m just your Mom, but I did good with you. You thanked me the other day and told me I gave you independence. You are a great Dad. Even if only one out of three still likes you! 😉
You did Mom! 🙂
Tim, none of that makes you a helicopter parent, it just makes you a good Dad! Now, if you show up to your kid’s first job interview, you may have a problem 🙂
Laurie –
No, showing up at his first job interview would be fine. Crossing the line is when I won’t let him answer any questions!
T