Bonus content: Why are helicopter parents?

Are they (we) just kinda lazy? Or is there something else going on?

Almost since the term “helicopter parent” floated up into the lexicon, there has been a desire to understand why. Why do parents hover? What motivates parents to intervene on their children’s behalf, or expend effort and energy to do things that kids could — and probably should — do themselves?

Helping, or hovering? As a parent — and even more so as an outside observer — it can be hard to find the line between helpful support, and helicoptering.

I’ve read most of the arguments about why parents engage in helicoptering. In fact, this very newsletter exists in large part because of the reading, thinking and reflecting I’ve done to try to understand why I engage in this behavior — behavior that I know to be less than ideal for me, my child, my family, my relationships, etc.

I find some arguments more compelling than others, and I was eager to read Kathryn Jezer-Morton’s take this on in her newsletter for The Cut, “Brooding,” which asks, “Are Helicopter Parents Actually Lazy?”

Here’s what I think about this question: