Overparenting Argumentative Analysis

Children rely on their parents growing up. Parents wanting the best for their kids is a generally well known concept in 2016, but where should the line be drawn? When should a child be allowed to fail? Helicopter parents are parents that will obsess to make sure that their child will not fail, and because of this, the child can miss out on many social, physical and general life lessons a normal child with healthy parenting would receive. Although parents should want to be involved in a child's life, they should also let their kids learn from their own mistakes and let them have the same opportunities as a child with healthy parenting.

Growing up, a child with helicopter parents can miss out on many life lessons simply because of his/her parents.

Helicopter parents do not allow their kids to learn from their mistakes, Cinzar described her helicopter parenting, “The lunch bag is sitting on the counter. Again. It’s the third time this week one of my children has left something behind. My next step is clear — leave it there. That is, of course, if I follow the new parenting mantra: Let your children fail” (1). Instead of letting her child learn from his/her mistake, the author brought the lunch to her child and he/she got their lunch. This being so, the child missed out on a lesson about being independent and responsible. Acocella states, “Over Parented children typically face not just a heavy academic schedule but also a strenuous program of extracurricular activities—tennis lessons, Mandarin classes, ballet”(2). Over parented children are often stressed out because of their tough schedule, and again are missing out on lessons of being independent with doing the things they like. Overall, helicopter parents, instead of doing the best for their kids are actually making them miss many life lessons.
Another effect of overparenting is the over-parented child setting their expectations too high from reality and everyday life.

Rosin states, “Kids once took special pride in “knowing how to get places” alone, and in finding shortcuts adults normally wouldn’t use”(Rosin 3). A child with overprotective parents would not be able to find those shortcuts Rosin talks about, and would expect everyone else to find them for them. Children and young adults can be very pressured due to high expectations, “We were so obsessed with our kids' success that parenting turned into a form of product development. Parents demanded that nursery schools offer Mandarin, since it's never too soon to prepare for the competition of a global economy. High school teachers received irate text messages from parents protesting an exam grade before class was even over; college deans described freshmen as "crispies," who arrived at college already burned out, and "teacups," who seemed ready to break at the tiniest stress”(Gibbs 1). What Gibbs is trying to get across is that the kids were so stressed out from the change in environment to college and high school, and they set their expectations so high that they snapped at the tiniest

things.
Children should be allowed to learn from his/her mistakes.

Helicopter parents believe failure is the worst thing for their child, but in reality the child does not learn from his/her mistake and this furthermore makes them want to keep failing. Children do make mistakes, but need to understand that “Whether you’re aware or not, rushed decisions like this—acting before thinking it through— happen more often in teens than in adults”(Teens 1). Irrational decisions can cause failure, but that failure will continue if the child does not learn from his/her mistakes. Helicopter parents should instead of looking at failure as a problem, should realize “Failure is an opportunity to get your child to look at himself”(lehman 1). Children need to feel the consequences for their actions in order to learn from their mistakes, and Helicopter parents make this very

difficult.
Children that are over parented or have helicopter parents