Helicopter Parenting

I was blog surfing and came across Dinah's blog about 'Helicopter Parenting'. Helicopter parenting is a description that refers to parents who 'hovers' over their children and tend to make decisions for their child. They became too involved in their children's lives.

To find out if I am a Helicopter Mum, I took the quiz here and scored 16. What does that mean? It means that I have a good balance between being too hands-off and too involved. I need to "Encourage your child to make some easy confidence-building decisions like choosing what to have for dinner, or where to go for a playdate. Giving her a bit of freedom will benefit you both".

This is true, I try very hard to positively encourage my two girls to think and make decisions for themselves, where I know the decisions are simple e.g. what they want to eat for lunch/dinner, order their own food if we're at a cafe, ask for something themselves. But in reality, sometimes I forget to 'sit on my hands' and allow myself to sit back and watch what happens.  I really like them to be assertive and speak for themselves. I realise that I cannot be by my girls side 24 x 7, and therefore need to 'arm' them with skills in order for them to look after themselves. It's work in progress, esp with my older girl. I need to instill greater self-confidence in her.

Are you a Helicoper Mum or Dad?