Helicopter parenting WORKS! Hyper attentive approaches to raising children used by middle class parents give them the best chance of success
- Helicopter parents are highly-involved in their children’s lives and educations
- The name comes from their ‘hovering’ and paying close attention to their kids
- Some experts criticise the parenting style for sheltering youngsters from reality
- In a new book economists claim that the approach is linked to high achievers
- It may even be partly responsible for the widening gulf between rich and poor
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‘Helicopter parenting’ adopted by well-off parents are giving their children the best chance of success in life.
That’s the claim of a new book that tackles the controversial style of raising youngsters.
Critics of the micro-managing tendencies of middle class parents have claimed that they lead to ‘defiant’ children who are poorly prepared for the real world.
Now, economists have argued that such intensive pushy parenting can bring life-changing benefits to children, particularly when it comes to academic achievement.
However the approach may also be partly responsible for the widening gulf between rich and poor, they say.
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‘Helicopter parenting’ adopted by well-off parents are giving their children the best chance of success in life. That’s the claim of a new book that tackles the controversial style of raising youngsters (stock image)
Dr Matthias Doepke, a professor of economics in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern University, and co-author Dr Fabrizio Zilibotti of Yale University are behind the claims.
Through personal anecdotes and original research, the pair show that in countries with increasing economic inequality, such as the United States, parents push harder to ensure their children have a path to security and success.
Dr Doepke and Dr Zilibotti analysed academic tests of 15-year-olds around the world, according to reports in the New York Times.
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They then compared these results to reports from teenagers and their parents about how they interact.
The researchers discovered that ‘helicopter parenting’ styles correlated with higher academic attainment.
‘My parents expected us to show up for meals, go to school and be home before dark, but other than that, we had a lot of freedom,’ Dr Doepke said.
‘The reality is that I am now a much more intensive parent who spends a lot of time on parenting, just like most other American parents today.’
Through personal anecdotes and original research, the pair show that in countries with increasing economic inequality, such as the United States, parents push harder to ensure their children have a path to security and success (stock image)
Previously Dr Doepke and Dr Zilibotti developed a model that provides an economic explanation for why different parents choose different parenting styles, such as ‘authoritarian’, ‘authoritative’ or ‘permissive’ parenting.
The most effective parents, according to the authors, are authoritative rather than authoritarian.
Authoritative parents persuade their children to do what’s good for them and encourage independence, rather than insisting on strict obedience to their instructions.
The pair also looked at data on parenting across countries and realised that their economic approach explained a lot about why parenting differs around the world.
Economics has transformed the hands-off parenting of the ’60s and ’70s into a frantic, overscheduled activity, they say.
WHAT IS HELICOPTER PARENTING?
Parents who are overprotective are sometimes referred to as ‘helicopter parents’.
They earned this stereotype for being perceived as relentlessly hovering over their children, trying to micro-manage their affairs.
The first use of the term is widely attributed to Dr Haim Ginott’s 1969 book Parents & Teenagers.
In it, teens said their parents would hover over them like a helicopter.
The term became popular enough to become a dictionary entry in 2011.
Helicopter parents pay extremely close attention to their children to try to protect them from failure, rejection and injury.
They want ‘happy’ children and often believe that teachers should pay attention to their children in the same overprotective way.
This approach has sparked controversy, with some experts arguing that in order for children to become well adjusted, they need to experience a full range of emotions.
Parents who want their children to always be happy are doing their children a disservice, in this view.
The ‘helicopter’ parent rushes in to help rather than allowing their child to have a go at managing a challenging situation themselves.
Some experts say that this can lead to children who are unable to cope with even minor issues, as they are never given the opportunity to fail and then learn from their mistakes.
However, some experts suggest that such ‘pushy’ parenting may provide children with benefits in later life.
Among them is Dr Matthias Doepke, a professor of economics in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern University.
He argues that the intensity of parenting has gone up in many countries in line with rising inequality.
Pushy ‘helicopter’ parents, normally from more economically advantaged backgrounds, generally raising higher achieving offspring.
Growing inequality has also resulted in an increasing ‘parenting gap’ between richer and poorer families.
This raises the prospect of diminished social mobility and fewer opportunities for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
‘We argue that parents respond to the environment they face, and depending on what that environment is, there can be outcomes that are socially problematic even if most parents do the best they can,’ Dr Doepke said.
‘In the U.S. today, the biggest concern is inequality in parenting, or what we refer to as the ‘parenting gap’ between social classes.’
Both authors’ view is that most parents are doing the right thing given the economic circumstances that they and their children face.
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