Баласын қадағалап, мінез-құлқына араласатын ата-ана

Term for a parent who closely manages their child's life

A helicopter parent (also called a cosseting parent or simply a cosseter) is a term for a parent who is overattentive and overly fearful of a child's experiences and problems, particularly outside the home and at educational institutions. Helicopter parents are so named because, like helicopters, they "hover overhead", overseeing every aspect of their child's life. A helicopter parent is also known to strictly supervise their children in all aspects of their lives, including in social interactions. The term "helicopter parent" has been in use since the late 1980s. It subsequently gained wide currency when American academic administrators began using it in the early 2000s as the oldest millennials began reaching college age. Their baby boomer parents earned notoriety for practices such as calling their children each morning to wake them up for class and complaining to their professors about grades the children had received.

The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that helicopter parents continued advocating for their adult children at the graduate school level as well, such as advocating for their adult child's admission to law school or business school. As this cohort entered the workforce, Human Resource officials reported helicopter parents showing up in the workplace or phoning managers to advocate on their adult child's behalf or to negotiate salaries for their adult children. Generational demographer Neil Howe describes helicopter parenting as the parenting style of baby boomer parents of millennial children. Howe describes the helicopter parenting of baby boomers as a distinct parenting style from Generation X parents. He describes the latter as "stealth fighter parents" due to a tendency of Gen X parents to let minor issues go while striking without warning and vigorously in the event of serious issues. Howe contrasts this to the sustained participation of Boomer parents of Millennials in the educational setting, describing these parents as "sometimes helpful, sometimes annoying, yet always hovering over their children and making noise". Howe describes baby boomers as incredibly close to their children, saying that in his opinion, this is a good thing. Helicopter parents attempt to "ensure their children are on a path to success by paving it for them". The rise of helicopter parenting coincided with two social shifts. The first was the comparatively booming economy of the 1990s, with low unemployment and higher disposable income. The second was the public perception of increased child endangerment, a perception which free range parenting advocate Lenore Skenazy described as "rooted in paranoia". Helicopter parenting is on occasion associated with societal or cultural norms that furnish or standardize themes related to vicariousness.

Tianjin University has been building "love tents" to accommodate parents who have traveled there with their matriculating freshmen, letting them sleep on mats laid out on the gym floor. Commentators on social media have argued that the one child policy has been an aggravating factor in the rise of helicopter parenting (see little emperor syndrome).

Helicopter parenting is a colloquial term; research often refers to the concept as overprotective parenting or overparenting. Research in the past referred to overprotective mothering, but overprotective parenting and overparenting are now favoured to include the role of fathers in parenting. In response to its use in everyday terminology, research has recently started also using the term helicopter parenting.

University of Georgia professor Richard Mullendore described the mobile phone as a contributing factor for helicopter parenting. Some parents, for their part, point to rising college tuition costs, saying they are just protecting their investment or acting like any other consumer. Inter generational research published in "The Gerontologist" observed educators and popular media lament helicopter parents who hover over their grown children, but reported "complex economic and social demands make it difficult for the Baby Boomers' children to gain a foothold in adulthood." Clare Ashton James, in a cross national survey of parents, concluded that "helicopter parents" reported higher levels of happiness. Some studies suggest overprotective, overbearing, or over controlling parents cause long term mental health problems for their offspring. The description of these mental health problems may be lifelong and its impact is comparable in scale to individuals who have suffered bereavement, according to the University College London. According to the Medical Research Council, "psychological control can limit a child's independence and leave them less able to regulate their own behaviour". According to a 2019 national poll on children's health by the C. S. Mott Children's Hospital at the University of Michigan, one quarter of parents surveyed say they are the main barrier to their teen's independence by not taking the time or effort to give their teen more responsibility. The national survey of nearly 900 parents found most of those with kids between 14 and 18 who conceded to helicoptering said they did it because it was just easier to do things themselves. Although parents or proponents of helicopter parenting claim that such a restrictive and imposing parenting style may instil discipline, other analysts have claimed that there is evidence that such forms of parenting result in teenage rebellion, and may even extend into a vicenarian rebellion. A study from Beijing Normal University found that overparenting had a detrimental effect on children's leadership skills. Another study from the University of Florida found that helicopter parenting was associated with more emotional problems, struggles with decision making and worse academic performance in a group of 500 students. Statistics showed that when college students remained at home and had fewer siblings, over parenting was more prevalent. Furthermore, parental participation however not over parenting was linked to poorer confidence in students and unfavorable reactions to working situations. Moreover, there are several college related circumstances for the student that are connected to over parenting. For instance, over parenting is linked to more detrimental results, for example poorer self efficacy, whereas parental participation is linked to more favorable results for students, like as better social self efficacy and graduate school goals.

The "snowplow parent" is said to go a step further than the helicopter parent by proactively removing obstacles that their child would otherwise face. The New York Times used the term in its 2019 article on the Varsity Blues scandal. The phrase "lawnmower parent," coined by Karen Fancher of Duquesne University, has the same meaning as "snowplow parent."

In Sweden, parents that would be considered helicopter parents in the English speaking world are instead referred to as curlingföräldrar ("curling parents").