有关overparenting的一些讨论
Helicopter parent (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
Helicopter parent is a colloquial, early 21st-century term for a parent who pays extremely close attention to his or her child's or children's experiences and problems, particularly at educational institutions. The term was originally coined by Foster W. Cline, M.D. and Jim Fay in their 1990 book Parenting with Love and Logic: Teaching Children Responsibilitywww.loveandlogic.com">1. Helicopter parents are so named because, like helicopters, they hover closely overhead, rarely out of reach, whether their children need them or not. In Scandinavia, this phenomenon is known as curling parenthood and describes parents who attempt to sweep all obstacles out of the paths of their children. It is also called "overparenting". Parents try to resolve their child's problems, and try to stop them coming to harm by keeping them out of dangerous situations[2][3].
Some college professors and administrators[who?] are now referring to "Lawnmower parents" to describe mothers and fathers who attempt to smooth out and mow down all obstacles, to the extent that they may even attempt to interfere at their children's workplaces, regarding salaries and promotions, after they have graduated from college and are supposedly living on their own. As the children of "helicopter parents" graduate and move into the job market, personnel and human resources departments are becoming acquainted with the phenomenon as well. Some have reported that parents have even begun intruding on salary negotiations[4]. An extension of the term, "Black Hawk parents," has been coined for those who cross the line from a mere excess of zeal to unethical behavior, such as writing their children's college admission essays.
Overparenting has sparked a backlash, claims Time, which sees a “revolution under way, one aimed at rolling back the almost comical overprotectiveness and overinvestment of moms and dads.”
The insurgency goes by many names — slow parenting, simplicity parenting, free-range parenting — but the message is the same: Less is more; hovering is dangerous; failure is fruitful. You really want your children to succeed? Learn when to leave them alone. When you lighten up, they’ll fly higher. We’re often the ones who hold them down.
One third of parents have cut their kids’ extracurricular activities in response to the recession, a CBS poll finds. Parents polled by Time said the recession had improved their relationships with their children. They’ve got less money for extras but more time for essentials.
Hyperparenting went ballistic in the in ’90s, Time says.
From peace and prosperity, there arose fear and anxiety; crime went down, yet parents stopped letting kids out of their sight; the percentage of kids walking or biking to school dropped from 41% in 1969 to 13% in 2001. Death by injury has dropped more than 50% since 1980, yet parents lobbied to take the jungle gyms out of playgrounds, and strollers suddenly needed the warning label “Remove Child Before Folding.” Among 6-to-8-year-olds, free playtime dropped 25% from 1981 to 1997, and homework more than doubled. Bookstores offered Brain Foods for Kids: Over 100 Recipes to Boost Your Child’s Intelligence. The state of Georgia sent every newborn home with the CD Build Your Baby’s Brain Through the Power of Music, after researchers claimed to have discovered that listening to Mozart could temporarily help raise IQ scores by as many as 9 points. By the time the frenzy had reached its peak, colleges were installing “Hi, Mom!” webcams in common areas, and employers like Ernst & Young were creating “parent packs” for recruits to give Mom and Dad, since they were involved in negotiating salary and benefits.
Lenore Skenazy, author of Free-Range Kids, deserves a lot of credit. Time also calls Carl Honoré’s Under Pressure: Rescuing Our Children from the Culture of Hyper-Parenting the “gospel of the slow parenting movement.”
BadaBing November 22, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Mayhaps this is one of the unintended good consequences of the Obama regime’s mishandling of the economy.
superdestroyer November 22, 2009 at 3:49 pm
I wonder if the Asian parents have stopped overparenting. Is this just middle class white families raising the white flag to Asian parents. Have middle class white families given up the idea that their children can ever be physicians, engineers, musicians, or Ivy Leaguers.
Ben F November 25, 2009 at 9:59 am
Superdestroyer, It seems to me that the vigilant parenting of Asian-American families I’ve seen is different than that of many white helicopter parents. The former seem more bent on academic achievement; the latter on protecting/spoiling their kid, and shielding him from unpleasantness (mean teachers’ tough grading, competition with those aggressive Asian kids, not getting to play in the soccer game, etc.) at all costs.
Cbiskit November 25, 2009 at 1:15 pm
Over-Parenting or high expectations for your children can have a horrible, and deadly negative effect in some cases. My children are grown, 26, 24, 22. Two of them, (24, 22) recently had friends commit suicide. Both because they could not figure out what to do with their lives. Their parents had expected more out of them. I watched my son stress last year as he was trying to get a job before he graduated from college. I was very worried about him, but tried to assure him something would come up. And it did and he has a job he loves. But it does not happen for all kids and they need to know that it is OK.
Overparenting: When good intentions go too far, kids can suffer
MSNBC.com
By Victoria Clayton
Dec. 7, 2004
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6620793
The Child Trap The rise of overparenting.
by Joan Acocella November 17, 2008
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2008/11/17/081117crbo_books_...
TIME 2009-11-20 The Growing Backlash Against Overparenting
By Nancy Gibbs
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1940395-1,00.html
