Parents' monitoring, intervention, and decision in all their children's actions - often called helicopter parenting - comes from a desire to protect them, but research shows that the consequences of this are not small. When parents closely manage their children's playing, learning and decision-making processes, they have less opportunities to learn how to regulate emotions and handle difficulties. Children growing up in such an environment are likely to have difficulty regulating emotions and behavior, negatively affecting healthy development.
A study published in ScienceDaily based on the work of the American Psychological Association shows that children who are over controlled from the age of 2 often have difficulty regulating emotions and behavior as they age, leading to problems such as resistance, indifference and difficulty integrating into the learning and social environment. Children who lack the opportunity to handle challenging situations may have difficulty facing failure, affecting their social and academic abilities at the age of 10.
The MGH Clay Center for Young Healthy Minds (Massachusetts General Hospital) also stated that the "helicopter parent" parenting style can cause children to be overly dependent on adults, self-conscious and lack the skills to deal with adversity, while lacking essential life skills such as problem solving and independence. When children develop into adolescents or adults, these consequences can amount to stress, anxiety, lack of confidence or always seek support from others instead of solving it themselves.
Some synthetic studies also point to the link between over-control and increased risk of anxiety and depression in children and adolescents, which can even affect mental health in the long term if not addressed by more balanced family care.Frontiers
To limit these consequences, experts recommend that parents should give their children space to try and make mistakes, encourage them to make decisions that are appropriate for their age, and support them when needed instead of deciding everything for them. Giving children freedom within a safe framework not only helps children develop independently but also increases confidence and self-healing ability when faced with challenges.
