As I was completing the assignment for the articles on Room for Debate I came across this one very article that was eye catching (When Parents Hover and Kids Don't Grow Up). Living in a generation where there are a lot of these "helicopter parents" led me to think, why do parents decide to hover over their child's shoulder and hold their hand along the way to the real world? There is no use in it, for the child will presume that they'll never have to grow up. In a time of need their mom or dad will help them.
There are certain moments in a person's life when one should learn to deal with trouble on their own, rather then calling the parents to get them out of a sticky situation. Metaphorically speaking, parents should teach their children to fish rather than providing the fish for them. I would much rather learn so that I am knowledgeable about the facts of life. What are your thoughts? Is hovering bad for the young?
I don't think hovering is bad for the young at all but it all depends to what extent the parent takes when watching over their child. For example, if a parent never lets their child experience the real world and is always trying to protect them then the child will have difficulties facing real life situations. On the other hand, if a parent chooses to let their child experience things on their own without hovering over them then the child will learn how the real world functions, but he/she will probably do things that aren't the smartest because they didn't have that parent that was watching over them to tell them before hand what situation they were getting themselves into. I think the best way to approach this is to have a happy medium between watching over your child and letting them experience real life situations.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Abriana. Many children do need to learn on their own and face certain parts of their lives without a parent metaphorically holding their hands through the whole thing. While children are to go through situations on their own, they also need guidance from their parents in other situations. Kids don't always use the best judgement when it comes to life, so they need the parental knowledge of their parents to help them make the correct decisions. The happy medium, as Abriana said, will help kids be able to use their brains to get them through all aspects of life without relying on their parents to get them through their lives.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with all of these points. Hovering is only necessary when you're a parent, but not too much. You should want your child to be aware of how the real world functions. Your son or daughter shouldn't be asking you questions about certain things like puberty or sex at the age of 17 or 18 because that should have been something they learned about earlier in life. This is just an example. It is also possible that a parent stops hovering over a child too early and the child is talking about inappropriate things at age 7. It all depends.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that a parent should hold back on to much hovering. Instead i think parents should just monitor their child from a distance, and intervene if needed. I personally think parents shouldn't have the need or want to hover unless their child gave them reason to be doubted. Otherwise hovering seems a tad obsessive and unnecessary.
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