New Pew data reveals the gendered realities of teen life in the US, from academics to emotional support
Being a mother or father is tricky business. There is no perfect way to do it, but some parents take it to the extreme. Have you ever felt that, even if they love you, your folks have tried to control you too much? As a child, did you just wish for a little more independence?
Well, you could be a product of helicopter parenting. It's not all bad, and it's not all good. On the one hand, you have a pillar of strength to rely on and endless advice from adults much more experienced than you. On the other hand, excessive intervention from your parents may have caused you to be more sensitive or have a hard time adjusting without their help.
If any of these circumstances sound familiar, it's worth finding out if they were helicopter parents, so you can understand some of your own emotions towards your relationship with them. Click through this gallery for signs that your parents were of the helicopter variety.
Helicopter parenting is when parents take excessive interest in their child's life and are overprotective. There are pros and cons to it, but most children are oblivious because they have never known anything different.
Think back to your school days. Did your parents ever help you out with projects or even do your homework for you? Helicopter parents feel such a need to help their child that sometimes they completely take over.
A helicopter parent will really feel loss when their child leaves home. They will probably contact you and tell you they have "empty nest syndrome."
If either one of, or both of, your parents are helicopter inclined, they definitely would have cried when you moved out.
They are extremely anxious about your future, especially the far future after they have gone. Therefore they try and create your future for you by organizing your school life and future career. It can be stifling, but also useful.
Even though you're an adult and know that a common cold won't kill you, you call your parents straight away for comfort. This is definitely a sign they raised you helicopter style.
Even if you are way beyond your childhood years, you still immediately call your parents for emotional support and adult life advice. Making children overly reliant on parents is a hallmark of helicopter parenting.
A sign that you were raised by extremely attentive parents is when you still refer to home as your parents' house, even if you have your own place (and perhaps even your own family...).
Helicopter parents want their due, and so they always expect their children back for the holidays, no matter what age.
If you were helicoptered as a child, and perhaps still as an adult, you may often wonder if your parents have a life outside inquiring about your own.
They are so inside your own life that you have to convince them to get hobbies or travel to lessen the spotlight they shine on you.
When you meet up with your parents, they ask you so many questions about your life that you just end up talking about yourself the whole time. They love it!
If your parents dote on you this much, lying to them feels extra horrible. However, telling little lies may be the only way to rebel against them as a kid and adult.
The terrible truth is that no one loves you as your parents do. Having helicopter parents may make you resent them because you grow up thinking the world will think as much of you as they do, but it doesn't.
It is easy to forget that it's only your parents who are willing to listen to an hour-long monologue about yourself. Children of helicopter parents may find themselves rambling on to friends about their own problems and then realize that they shouldn't because it's self-absorbed.
You know that at the end of the day, your parents will listen to your menial conversation for hours, just because they are so obsessed. Deep down, you love this about them.
In order to further know about you and your life, they will befriend your friends and get their numbers.
If, as an adult, you decide to fall off the radar for a few days, you better let your helicopter parents know. If you don't, a flurry of calls will follow, and much distress.
If you still don't reply to them, then they call all your friends to see if they know where you are and why you are not replying, even if you're just lying in for the morning.
Despite your desire for independence, when your parents give so much attention to you, it feels like you owe them something. Their favorite currency is information about your life.
A clear indication of a helicopter parent is that they still sort out your finances and get an alert when you are in overdraft...
If they are the highest caliber of obsessed parents, then they will go through your bank statements and question you about suspicious transactions.
If you are on their phone contract until a ripe old age, you have helicopter parents!
Many helicopter-parented children are likely to still call their parents mommy and daddy instead of the more mature mom and dad.
You don't understand it when your friends do not call their parents as much as you do, or why they find it strange. You can't quite tell if you feel sorry for them, or jealous of their relative freedom.
As your parents have gone above and beyond for you, children of helicopter parents feel very protective of their old folks, even if they are overbearing.
Helicopter parents are very in tune with their children's emotions and often know things without being told. Their intuition is on point!
A helicopter parent will drive you everywhere so they can spend time with you in the car, and talk. Even if you need picking up from a party at four in the morning, they'll be there.
Whether you are a kid or an adult, if they can't drive you, they think you should get cabs everywhere. The big bad world is not safe for their little one.
Sources: (Thought Catalogue)
Signs you were raised by helicopter parents
How hands-on were your old folks?
LIFESTYLE Parenting
Being a mother or father is tricky business. There is no perfect way to do it, but some parents take it to the extreme. Have you ever felt that, even if they love you, your folks have tried to control you too much? As a child, did you just wish for a little more independence?
Well, you could be a product of helicopter parenting. It's not all bad, and it's not all good. On the one hand, you have a pillar of strength to rely on and endless advice from adults much more experienced than you. On the other hand, excessive intervention from your parents may have caused you to be more sensitive or have a hard time adjusting without their help.
If any of these circumstances sound familiar, it's worth finding out if they were helicopter parents, so you can understand some of your own emotions towards your relationship with them. Click through this gallery for signs that your parents were of the helicopter variety.