Helicopter Parents?

I was watching The Today Show this morning, when they ran a segment on Helicopter Parents...parents who hover over their kids. At first I thought they would be talking about parents of preschoolers, but no, they were talking about parents of adult children! These parents are involved in everything, including their children's job search. They don't just give advice; they tour their child's workplace, and some even attend their children's job interviews! I think this trend is ridiculous! As parents, our job is to train up our children, giving them more responsibility and independence as they grow older. Then when they become adults they will be responsible enough to live their own lives. We can't coddle our kids and shield them from all mistakes. What does that teach them? Nothing! We learn some of our best lessons from mistakes and failures. If we prevent our children from failing, how will they ever learn perseverance? About a year ago, I found a great book at the library called Life Skills for Kids: Equipping Your Child for the Real World by Christine Field. In this book, Field discusses time management, household chores, spiritual habits, and many more aspects of life that children need to master before heading out into the adult world. She does a great job of providing ideas on how to teach these skills to kids when they're young, so they can thrive as adults. I really need to buy a copy for myself, so I can have it on hand as a reference. I think Field has the right idea. I want to teach my children to be responsible for their own lives. I want to teach them to learn and grow from mistakes. I can't parent from a perspective of fear. I can't be afraid that my child will make mistakes or feel pain. That is a necessary part of life. I trust that God is in complete control of the outcome of my child's life. My responsibility is bring up my children in the ways of the Lord to the best of my ability, and then let them go to live their own adult lives. Related Tags: Children, Parenting, Helicopter Parents, Books, Christine Field