When will I step off my helipad

by Rumour Miller on August 26, 2011

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I’m the slightly less extreme version of the Helicopter Parent.  I don’t hover over the girls 24/7 and follow behind them with a pillow.  Although, with Quinn and Piper, I am seriously considering it.  I let the girls play and run outside without shoes on (kind of) and I allow them to jump on (some) trampolines.  Heck, I even bought them one!

I let them climb jungle gyms and I let Piper take the training wheels off of her bike.  Heck, I am even considering NO training wheels at all for Davilyn.  But… I do hover a bit and my helipad is never far away.  Hey, I’m letting them go to school and play sports, I don’t hover that much.  Really.

I’m not really a Helicopter Parent.  I took a quiz on the internet and it said so (and I believe everything I read on the interwebz)!  I kid.  I kid. In all seriousness though, I think that the whole Helicopter Parenting is a sign of the times and a result of society.  There is so much competition among parents, between mothers.  We all want our child to do the best and to be the best.  Of course we do!  They are our children and a reflection of our parenting skills.  Not to mention, we love them kiddlebugs and really want to see them succeed in life.

Then there is the feeling or the desire to protect our children.  Even when they become independent of us, I can’t imagine that those instincts ever go away.  I just have to learn my boundaries and eventually let the girls make decisions for themselves.  Without interfering.  Right now, it’s still appropriate to step in when the girls are fighting.  Well if I want to keep my sanity it is.  There are days, when I have had enough playing referee, I let them put on the boxing gloves and have at ‘er.  Not really, I just leave the room and tell them to figure out a solution.

I am trying to maintain a fine balance of being involved with them and being hands-off.  I want them to become independent little thinkers and doers (especially on a Saturday morning when I want to sleep in) but at the same time I want them to come to me now and trust me now with their problems, concerns, fears and triumphs.  I want this, because I want them to have that same comfort and trust with me when they are teenagers and facing more serious issues and decisions. That’s every parent’s goal, wish and hope… right.

So, I suspect that I will need my helipad at various times throughout my life.  Times when I will actually use and other times when I have it nearby, just in case.

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