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clean up the mistakes or prevent a problem makes Helping You Navigate Your Journey Through a child feel incompetent. How does a child ever learn to deal with disappointment if the always ensures success? If a child has a parent that Are you a Helicopter Parent? does everything for him, how does he develop mastery of lifelong skills? The surest way to make BY KIM DEMARCHI and projects. In college, the helicopter parent too much can push to take control life hard for your child is to make it too easy. We’ve heard is still choosing the class schedule, managing over their children’s life to try and protect them all sorts of terms their appointments, and calling a professor from a bad grade, not making the team, not Parents have an extremely difficult job of for parenting such about a bad grade. Now with all the technology being invited to a party, etc... Parents can now finding the delicate balance of getting them from as: autocratic, at parent’s fingertips, they aren’t investigate every illness, child predator, child to . How can parents protect their permissive, just swooping in physically, but virtually anything bad that can happen children from real danger, but also allow some democratic, hovering constantly via the to children with the crazy suffering. Children need to be disappointed, conscious, smart phone. Many accessibility of the Internet. struggle, and have the occasional failure. It authoritative, parents are in constant Parents want to protect their teaches them to work through it and persevere, minimalist, free contact through cell children from ever being and in the end, to become reliant, self confident range, attachment, phones, tracking hurt or disappointed children and . Our real job as parents is to and the list goes on! There is one that has actually their grades online, and this fear begins to put ourselves out of a job. We our children been around since the late 1960’s, became and literally govern their parenting. fiercely, and the most loving thing we can do for popular in the 1990’s and later became popular tracking them is to prepare them for adulthood. Prepare enough that in 2011 it became a dictionary entry - their every Parents love their the child for the path, not the path for the child. children and start Helicopter Parenting. Similar terms include move with lawnmower parenting and bulldoze parenting. smartphone apps. off with great intentions. Kim DeMarchi, M.Ed., Certified Parent Educator and Nonetheless, it is a style of child rearing in which Certified Coach, is a Tualatin resident, married an overprotective mother or father discourage a No one sets out to They want to be with 15 year old boy/girl twins, and has been an child’s independence by being too involved in become a helicopter involved and engaged to educator for more than two decades. Kim is trained parent. Parenting is THE help a child feel loved, safe, and certified through , as well the the child’s life. In the typical helicopter parenting, International Network for Children and in a a parent will “hover” nearby and “swoop” in at most difficult job in confident, and supported. program called Redirecting Children‘s Behavior. Kim is any sign of challenge or discomfort, much like a the world, and sometimes Initially, when parents micromanage active in supporting her local parenting community by providing workshops, coaching families and writing helicopter might hover and swoop in for a rescue. it’s easy to obsess about on occasion. their child’s every moment, there are good articles for our newspaper. Kim Helicopter parenting can develop for several outcomes. But somewhere along the line, it is a monthly guest on KATU’s AM Helicopter parenting can occur at any age. In reasons, most centered on fear. Parents fear that becomes overparenting and can actually affect Northwest. She also blogs twice a month for Knowledge Universe’s toddlerhood, a helicopter parent might constantly not being completely involved in their children’s your child adversely through terrible long Kindercare online community. shadow, stay with, and direct their child’s every lives, may affect their children negatively. Some term costs. The “over” part of overparenting is Kim’s goal for you is to help reduce move. In elementary school, the helicopter parent parents, who felt neglected or ignored in their a reference to excessive levels of involvement, conflict, foster mutual respect, and create deeper communication and makes sure their child has a certain teacher or own childhood, may overcompensate by paying control, and problem solving on a child’s behalf. connections with your loved ones. coach, basically selects the friends and activities, excessive attention to their own children now. Over involvement can communicate to a child She can be reached through and provides too much assistance in homework Parents worry, some more than others. Worrying that they aren’t trusted. Always being there to www.EmpoweredParenting.com.