Helicopter parents are those who are hovering around their children all the time, those who micro manage their every decision and closely monitor their every situation whether in school or outside of school.
Though this may be an expression of love and care for some, overdoing it can be detrimental to a child's adult life. According to Lifehack, a 2010 study conducted by professor Neil Montgomery of Keene State College in New Hampshire among 300 freshmen college students found that having helicopter parents made them feel more stressed, less open to new ideas, more vulnerable and more self-conscious.
This means that the idea of moving to college can be pretty daunting to them because it would be their first time to move away from their parents. Their lack of skills in some areas of their lives can result in worry, anxiety and frustration. They find it difficult to adapt and accept change.
According to Huffington Post, there's more to it than just the effects mentioned above when it comes to parental meddling, and it's because college students feel like they do not have the capability to govern their own lives. A study published in Journal of Child and Family Studies led by associate professor of psychology at the University of Mary Washington, Holly Schiffrin, suggest that this is one way of parents to indirectly tell their children that they are not competent, and children need to grow up with feelings of autonomy, competence and connectedness to other people in order to feel happy, and helicopter parenting deprives their children of the first two.
Helicopter parents also make their children less capable when it comes to executive function which can affect their future health and success which means that they will not only struggle in when they go to college, but they will struggle too in life , in general.
