What is the problem with 'lawnmower parents' who try to solve all the hardships facing their children?
In the United States and Canada, the number of 'helicopter parents' who overly interfere with their children's behavior and actions, even after they have grown up and entered the workforce, is said to be on the rise. In recent years, a further development has been reported: the 'lawnmower parent.'
Lawnmower Parents Are the New Helicopter Parents
Meet the lawnmower parents, the new helicopter parents
https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/allthemoms/2018/09/19/meet-lawnmower-parent-new-helicopter-parents-types-parents-tiger-attachment/1347358002/
'Helicopter parents' refers to parents who want to keep their children under their control, a derogatory term referring to overprotective behavior, such as constantly hovering over their children and monitoring their behavior. Even when children reach an age where they can think and make their own decisions, parents who cannot let go of their children continue to restrict their children's behavior, which has the negative effect of delaying the children's mental and social development, and has become a social problem in the United States and Canada.
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A step further from 'helicopter parents' came the term 'lawnmower parents,' which refers to overprotective parents who 'mow away all the grass before their children even get a chance to step on it.'
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One example of such 'lawnmower parents' was an anonymous post on the American education information site WeAreTeachers.com that became a hot topic.
The poster, who works as a teacher, received a call from the parent of one of his students saying they wanted to give him something. 'Maybe it's an asthma inhaler or unpaid school lunch fees?' he wondered as he headed to the office. The parent, dressed in a business suit and apparently at work, handed him a water bottle that looked quite expensive for a child to carry. 'My child emailed me and said, 'I want a water bottle.' I replied, 'Doesn't the school have a drinking fountain?' But I thought maybe my child had gotten into an irreversible situation,' he said.
The poster almost responded to the parent who was so eager to give their child a water bottle that they had to call the school, saying, 'Your child is a teenager , right? Seriously?', but she held back and responded in a mature manner, saying, 'I use the same one.' Still, the poster seems to be pleading with the parent, 'Are you serious?'
The poster states, 'Minimizing hardships does not necessarily mean that children will be happier,' pointing out that the generation of children they are educating will grow up to be adults who are unable to think about what to do when faced with adversity, and who panic and shut down over minor failures.
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Karen Fancher, an assistant professor at Duquesne University 's School of Pharmacy, wrote on her blog about 'lawnmower parents' who came to school with their daughters and complained about class schedules. Fancher warned that the 'lawnmower' parenting style, in which parents solve all of their children's problems, can have lasting negative effects on children's development because it prevents them from achieving things on their own.
Hannah Hudson, editor-in-chief of WeAreTeachers.com, also shares some of the stories of 'lawnmower parents' that have been posted, including 'a parent who demands that their high school-aged child's teacher pick them up and take them to school so they don't get late,' 'a parent who emails her child saying, 'The cafeteria lunch is too hot for my child to eat. Can someone blow on it to cool it down?'' and 'a parent who calls to ask for their child to schedule a retest, even though they're already old enough to do it on their own.'
Hudson said it's very difficult to distinguish between 'legitimate help' and 'lawnmower-like overprotection.' 'Parents' willingness to help their children succeed is admirable and understandable. The problem is that parents' efforts to eliminate all hardships from their children end up leaving them inexperienced and inevitably ruining their children's lives,' he said.
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