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Jayson, Sharon. "Do Helicopter Parents Help or Harm the Kids?." USA TODAY. 25 Sep. 2012: D.4. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

"As scores went up on our helicopter parenting scale, overall psychological well-being went down," says co-author Tom Buchanan, associate professor of sociology at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He says the research on 317 college students when he was at the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga also found this distinct form of parenting suggested in the Brigham Young study. "It's kind of its own animal," he says. "You have a lot of engagement, but you're not fostering independence. You are engaged with your kids, but deciding for them certain issues."

"Choose Your Parents Wisely; Parenting in America." Economist. 26 Jul. 2014: 21+. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015

"I talk to him constantly," says Lacey, another Bethesda mother, of her two-year-old son. "As we go through the day, I talk about what we're doing. I try to make the regular tasks interesting and fun, like going to the grocery store." Her older son, who is five, devours maths apps and asks his mother questions about arithmetic. At the weekend the family might go to the American History Museum or the Washington Zoo or a park.

"'I don't want to raise worriers'; Helicopter parents might have the best intentions, but studies show the efforts have backfired." Globe & Mail [Toronto, Canada] 30 Jan. 2015: L4. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 10 Apr. 2015

"If you look at this generation of children who've been raised this way, their anxiety is off the scales," says Jennifer Kolari, a Toronto-based parenting coach and author of Connected Parenting. "They are a mess."

Bernstein, Elizabeth. "The Helicopter Parents are Hovering on Facebook." Wall Street Journal. 08 Sep. 2009: B.7. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

"Mom, it's like my friends and I are standing around having a conversation and you interrupt and say, 'Hi, guys! What are you doing?'" says Andrew Doerfler, a 17-year-old high school senior in West Grove, Penn. Andrew has a solution for embarrassing mom posts, like the amusement she expressed after he linked to a video of the rock star Bret Michaels getting hit in the head by a prop at the Tony Awards: He deletes them immediately. (His mom, Megan Reese, a 40-year-old insurance-industry recruiting manager, says she's not trying to annoy her son, but just trying to stay aware of what's going on in his life.)

Skinner, Quinton. "It's Not (All) Their Fault." Minnesota Monthly. Feb. 2014: 16. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

"The fact of the matter is that young people aren't getting the kind of vocational experiences to help them sort through what they would like to be, and to become work-ready--the routines of the workplace, how you should behave and so forth. "The youth who are college graduates are the most advantaged in the youth labor market, even though their employment rates are lower than they were prior to the recession. Still, if you look at high-school graduates, or those with associate degrees, they're faring far worse. There's so much attention to college graduates, but what about the people who don't go to college?"

Skinner, Quinton. "It's Not (All) Their Fault." Minnesota Monthly. Feb. 2014: 16. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

"The image of families in the media includes berating and ridiculing parents for not letting go of their children--the term 'helicopter parents' is sometimes used--by encouraging them to live at home, and accept a lot of money from them, and so on. But there are real challenges facing young people in becoming educated, which is becoming a longer process and more costly than in the past, and difficulties in getting jobs and establishing themselves and, later, forming families. "All of these demographic trends in changes to adulthood have made parents more responsible to children for a longer period of time. Parents are trying to help their children to build human capital--rationally, rather than through some kind of pathological dependency."

Jayson, Sharon. "Do Helicopter Parents Help or Harm the Kids?." USA TODAY. 25 Sep. 2012: D.4. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

"They may already be less engaged in school, so the parent is stepping in to try to help, or it could be parents have hovered so long that the child is not taking their own initiative," Padilla-Walker says. "I don't want parents to get the message not to be involved in their children's lives at this age. They are very much needed. The key is, is it joint decision-making, or is it the parent doing it?" A broader study of 592 adults, largely ages 18-33, and 399 parents found much more positive effects from what researchers termed "intense support." The study, published in August in the Journal of Marriage and Family, shows that adult kids reported better psychological adjustment than those who didn't have intense support--financial, advice and emotional.

Jayson, Sharon. "Do Helicopter Parents Help or Harm the Kids?." USA TODAY. 25 Sep. 2012: D.4. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

"They're involved in their children's lives--just not appropriately," says lead author Laura Padilla-Walker, professor of human development. "They don't value having their children make their own decisions." The study was based on data collected from 438 undergraduates at four universities around the country and at least one of their parents (376 mothers and 303 fathers). It found that students whose parents were closer to the helicoptering type were less engaged in school.

Skinner, Quinton. "It's Not (All) Their Fault." Minnesota Monthly. Feb. 2014: 16. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

"Youth [used to] say things such as, "I have all these activities in school, and my employer has to adjust to my schedule." That's the way it was, but now teenagers are facing competition from adult workers who are unemployed or who have low-paying jobs that they have to supplement." "The median age of the fast-food worker is 29. Teenagers aren't doing these jobs, it's adults who have all the expenses of living independently.

Skinner, Quinton. "It's Not (All) Their Fault." Minnesota Monthly. Feb. 2014: 16. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

45 percent of unemployed millennials lived with their parents in 2012. 63 percent of millennials had jobs in 2012, compared to 70 percent of young people the same age in 2007. "One thing that's different after the recent recession is that we haven't seen a quick rebound afterward. In the most recent data you see greater youth unemployment related to the recession. "But a lot of the changes that are making life more difficult for college graduates and for other youth are long-term trends and not the recession. There's the decline of manufacturing--in the 1950's, you could get a relatively well-paying job with a high-school education, and now you need at least college. It's becoming more difficult for young people to establish themselves."

Sollisch, Jim. "Why Boomer Parents Ruined Everything." Washington Post - Blogs. 01 Jul. 2014: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

A generation of parents, driven partly by fear and partly by good intention, became stalkers. We left no stone unturned. We wanted to know and share every experience and emotion our kids had. Reading kids' diaries and searching their computers became common practice. We Boomer parents adopted the NSA policies before the NSA did. This next generation of parents, aided by technology, will make us Boomers look like rookies. The study on parental involvement did find that parents mattered quite a bit, just not in the ways we thought. The authors found that the main thing parents could do to help their children's academic performance was to set high expectations, to make it clear that they expected their children to get good grades and to go to college.

"Choose Your Parents Wisely; Parenting in America." Economist. 26 Jul. 2014: 21+. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015

A home visit is supposed to be fun. Visiting a five-year old called Lily, Ms Miller brings a game called "Five Little Monkeys", based on a popular nursery rhyme. It involves numbers, artful propaganda in favour of going to sleep and the thrill of watching plastic monkeys fall off a spring-loaded bed. Lily plays merrily, though her commentary is revealing. Asked to mime brushing her teeth, she says she uses bottled water because the stuff from the tap is "bad". (A recent chemical spill polluted the nearby river.)

Sultan, Aisha. "The Art of Not Helping: Let Children Do Their Own Homework." St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 21 Sep. 2014: H.1. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015

A mom, who admitted to spending considerable time watching YouTube videos learning how to help her teenage son with a major high school project, explained her motivation: You don't want your child to fall behind because he's the only one not getting extra help. She poured hours of her own time to help with the typing, formatting and grunt work involved with his assignment. The school had fostered a culture so competitive that it took parental involvement to excel. That kind of environment is doing a disservice in the long run to the students, and some brave parents ought to speak up about it

Giridharadas, Anand. "Incentive for Pushy Parenting." International New York Times. 28 Oct. 2014: 2. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015.

A study by a pair of economists suggests that parents may take child-rearing cues, perhaps subliminally, from social inequality. Parents: The next time your child wants a video-game break even though there's still homework to be done, or begs for ice cream for the fifth day in a row, there's an elegant new formula to help you respond. If you live in a relatively equal society, give in. If you live in a gapingly unequal one, crack down: no video games or ice cream!

"Choose Your Parents Wisely; Parenting in America." Economist. 26 Jul. 2014: 21+. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015

And even two-parent families in Cabin Creek tend to be more stretched than those in Bethesda. Sarah, another Cabin Creek mom, has a sick mother and a husband who was injured in a coal mine. Her three boys, two of whom make it a point of pride to be on the naughty kids list at school, exhaust her. She helps them with their homework and reads to them fairly regularly, but often just lets them watch television. "Dora the Explorer" is somewhat educational, she says: "It's got Spanish in it."

Sultan, Aisha. "The Art of Not Helping: Let Children Do Their Own Homework." St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 21 Sep. 2014: H.1. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015

At the elementary and middle school levels, it becomes fairly evident to teachers when parents have taken too large a role in a student's project or homework. After all, they see the classroom performance and work of the same child day-to-day. In our low-stakes fifth-grade homework, the pueblo turned out just fine. In fact, my daughter took great pride in having done it by herself. It may have even provided a boost of confidence for her to know that she could figure it out on her own.

"Choose Your Parents Wisely; Parenting in America." Economist. 26 Jul. 2014: 21+. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015

Children with at least one parent with a graduate degree score roughly 400 points higher (out of 2,400) on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (a test used for college entrance) than children whose parents did not finish high school. This is a huge gap. It is hard to say how much it owes to nurture and how much to nature. Both usually push in the same direction. Brainy parents pass on their genes, including the ones that predispose their children to be intelligent. They also create an environment at home that helps that intelligence to blossom, and they buy houses near good schools.

Sollisch, Jim. "Why Boomer Parents Ruined Everything." Washington Post - Blogs. 01 Jul. 2014: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

Before we Boomers took the reins of parenting 30 years ago, parenting was still something you could do largely in the privacy of your home while maintaining a life filled with separate interests. We pretty much screwed that up, turning ourselves into 24/7 hover craft, inserting ourselves into every aspect of our children's lives, making sure they experience as little as possible on their own. We re-wrote the rules of parenting so thoroughly that they even became ingrained in public policy. No Child Left Behind and later Obama's Race to the Top make parental involvement in education a top priority for improving academic performance. Parents are told to volunteer at schools, do homework nightly with their children, attend PTA meetings, read the books their kids are reading. Schools have even been penalized if their parental attendance is low at parent-teacher conferences.

"Choose Your Parents Wisely; Parenting in America." Economist. 26 Jul. 2014: 21+. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015

Bethesda moms and dads take parenting seriously. Angie Zeidenberg, the director of a local nursery, estimates that 95% of the parents she deals with read parenting books. Nearly all visit parenting websites or attend parenting classes, she says. Bethesda children are constantly stimulated. Natalia, a local four-year-old, watches her three older siblings study and wants to join in. "She pretends to have homework," says her mother, Veronica; she sits next to them and practises her letters.

Bernstein, Elizabeth. "The Helicopter Parents are Hovering on Facebook." Wall Street Journal. 08 Sep. 2009: B.7. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

But he leaves up all the cute pictures of him as a kid, and admits he sometimes slyly steers girls he likes to his mom's page, telling them, "It's so embarrassing, my mom posts all these pictures of me. Please don't look." Once the girls see how cute he was and how fun his mom is, he says, they like him better. "She's my virtual wingman," says Mr. Hendelman, a junior equity-derivatives broker in New York. Does Diana Hendelman mind? "We're complicit," she says. The 51-year-old from Palm City, Fla., uses Facebook to check up on her son when she hasn't heard from him for a day or so. And she has no problem when he sometimes controls her page. "I would ignore a friend request from my own mom," she says.

Sultan, Aisha. "The Art of Not Helping: Let Children Do Their Own Homework." St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 21 Sep. 2014: H.1. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015

But this year, I had decided to take a hands-off approach to homework. I would still check to make sure my children were getting it done, but it was going to be all their own unassisted work and not my responsibility. So, as hard as it was to stand by and watch the papier-mache explosion in my kitchen, I sat on my hands. The research backs up my resolve.

Michaud, Anne. "The Downside of Helicopter Parenting." Newsday. 29 Jan. 2015: A.30. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

But when we constantly remind children to consider the worst-case outcome - an abduction, a molestation - we make them fearful and anxious. We say we want them to grow up to be risk-takers, but then don't allow them to experience risk. We want them to be creative and listen to their unique inner voices, without allowing "the small adventures, the secret journeys, the setbacks and mishaps, the glorious anarchy, the moments of solitude and even of boredom" that made up our childhoods, in the words of Carl Honor, author of the 2009 book "Under Pressure: Rescuing Childhood from the Culture of Hyper-Parenting."

Sultan, Aisha. "The Art of Not Helping: Let Children Do Their Own Homework." St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 21 Sep. 2014: H.1. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015

But, as Khan described in his essay, he is teaching his son that his brain grows when he struggles to learn something hard. We gravitate toward things that come easily and naturally to us. Learning happens in the struggle. That effort is also how we develop persistence. Many parents fear their child will suffer if all of her peers are getting additional help while she tries to keep up alone.

"Choose Your Parents Wisely; Parenting in America." Economist. 26 Jul. 2014: 21+. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015

Cabin Creek parents love their children just as much as Bethesda parents do, but they read to them less. It doesn't help that they are much more likely to be raising their children alone, like Melissa. Only 9% of American women with college degrees who gave birth in the past year are unmarried; for those who failed to finish high school the figure is 61%. Two parents have more time between them than one.

"Choose Your Parents Wisely; Parenting in America." Economist. 26 Jul. 2014: 21+. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015

Consider the children of Cabin Creek, West Virginia. The scenery they see from their front porches is more spectacular than anything Bethesda has to offer: the Appalachian Mountains rather than the tree-lined back streets of suburbia. But the local economy is in poor shape, as the coal industry declines. The median household income is $26,000, half the national average. Only 6% of adults have college degrees. On Mr Murray's scale, Cabin Creek is in the bottom 10%. Melissa, a local parent, says that her son often comes home from school and announces that he has no homework. She does not believe him, but she cannot stop him from heading straight out across the creek to play with his friends in the woods.

"Choose Your Parents Wisely; Parenting in America." Economist. 26 Jul. 2014: 21+. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015

Disappointingly, that difference faded by the age of ten, leading many to doubt that the Perry project (named after the school where it took place) actually worked. However, even if it didn't boost their IQ scores for long, the intervention appears to have taught them other useful skills, such as self-discipline and perseverance. The Perry pre-schoolers were far more likely than the control group to graduate from high school on time (77% to 60%). And by the age of 40, they were more likely to earn $20,000 a year or more (60% to 40%) and less likely to have been arrested five times or more (36% to 55%).

"Choose Your Parents Wisely; Parenting in America." Economist. 26 Jul. 2014: 21+. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015

Do such benefits last? In the 1960s a group of vulnerable pre-schoolers in Michigan were randomly selected either to enroll in a programme of daily coaching from well-trained teachers plus weekly home visits, or to join a control group. The early results were amazing: after a year the kids who took part were outscoring the control group by ten IQ points.

Skinner, Quinton. "It's Not (All) Their Fault." Minnesota Monthly. Feb. 2014: 16. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

Don't be too quick to judge those helicopter parents--research shows that the economic deck is stacked against the millennial generation In 2012, 36 percent of America's young adults aged 18 to 31--the millennial generation--were living at home with their parents, the highest percentage in at least four decades and a number that was exacerbated by the Great Recession. In the view of University of Minnesota sociologist Jeylan T. Mortimer, though, the recession deepened economic trends that were already underway--and that might not change any time soon.

Bernstein, Elizabeth. "The Helicopter Parents are Hovering on Facebook." Wall Street Journal. 08 Sep. 2009: B.7. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

Dr. Bernstein says the danger of monitoring kids too closely through technology is that it may make them sneakier. "As we become better detectives, they become better fugitives," he says. The bottom line: Relationships need boundaries. And so he suggests some guidelines: It's OK for parents to require younger kids and teens to accept their friend requests, but kids should gain more freedom as they get older, just as they do in real life. Also, parents should be open with their kids about whether they are monitoring their page

Jayson, Sharon. "Do Helicopter Parents Help or Harm the Kids?." USA TODAY. 25 Sep. 2012: D.4. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

For ages 18-29, research online now and slated for the October issue of the Journal of Adolescence finds "helicopter parenting appears to be inappropriately intrusive and managing, but done out of strong parental concern for the well-being and success of the child." Researchers at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, say the "high involvement, low autonomy granting and presence of emotional support in the relationship" reflects "a uniquely distinguishable" parenting approach.

Bernstein, Elizabeth. "The Helicopter Parents are Hovering on Facebook." Wall Street Journal. 08 Sep. 2009: B.7. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

For months, Dr. Rivera, an obstetrician in Lombard, Ill., had been exasperated that his 25-year-old son, Nate, often complained he was broke and asked for money, yet posted photos of himself on Facebook taken at bars, restaurants, movies and concerts. Dr. Rivera says he tried to talk to his son, a senior in college, about his spending habits, but his son refused to listen. Frustrated, he finally wrote on his son's Facebook wall: "I can see what you are blowing your money on, so don't come whining to me about money."

"Choose Your Parents Wisely; Parenting in America." Economist. 26 Jul. 2014: 21+. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015

From a public-policy perspective, nature is a given. Individuals can influence the genes their children inherit, by choosing the right partner, but the state is concerned only with how children are nurtured. America lavishes public money on school-age children (more than $12,000 per pupil each year, or nearly one and a half times the rich-country average) but virtually ignores the very young, despite strong evidence that the earliest years matter most. Only 67% of American three- to five-year-olds and 42% of under-threes are enrolled in formal child care or preschool. In France it is 100% and 48%.

"Choose Your Parents Wisely; Parenting in America." Economist. 26 Jul. 2014: 21+. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015

Government meddling in parenting is politically touchy. As Mr Reeves writes: "Conservatives are comfortable with the notion that parents and families matter, but too often simply blame the parents for whatever goes wrong. They resist the notion that government has a role in promoting good parenting." As for liberals, they have "exactly the opposite problem. They have no qualms about deploying expensive public policies, but are wary of any suggestion that parents--especially poor and/or black parents--are in some way responsible for the constrained life chances of their children."

He sat down and slid into the pool all on his own. When he plopped up from the water he had a huge smile on his face. Of course he did. Everything was fine.

"Choose Your Parents Wisely; Parenting in America." Economist. 26 Jul. 2014: 21+. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015

Helping Parents Teach Parent educators hand out books as presents for the kids and offer leaflets to the parents. "Of the nine families I see, none buy[s] parenting books. But most look at the material I leave," says Jennifer Parsons, another parent educator. The programme in West Virginia is cheap: about $1,800 per family each year. It has not been around long enough for its effectiveness to be assessed, but others have. A review of 11 home-visiting programmes by the federal health department found that seven led to at least two lasting benefits (e.g., making the child healthier or better-prepared for school). A pre-school programme called HIPPY, which aims to teach parents how to be their children's first teachers, appears to boost reading scores significantly.

Bernstein, Elizabeth. "The Helicopter Parents are Hovering on Facebook." Wall Street Journal. 08 Sep. 2009: B.7. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

Holly O'Driscoll says she's fine with her dad monitoring her friends on Facebook. "I think it's sensible," she says. Still, she admits she sometimes blocks him from seeing her status updates, explaining she doesn't want him to see how often she's on Facebook. For many parents, Facebook and MySpace are helpful conversation starters, particularly with older teens or young adults. Just ask Cherie Miller, who has seven sons, ages 15 to 28. She says she not only stays in touch via social-networking sites with the ones who no longer live at home; she also learns things about them she wouldn't otherwise know. "You know how boys are," says the 53-year-old mom, who administers a graduate-degree program at Kennesaw State University near Atlanta. "It's very hard to pull conversations out of them."

How can a couple be fine letting their kids walk a mile home alone and I can't be comfortable with my kids six feet away looking at treats in the snack aisle? In the toy store it was quiet enough that I could hear my kids' boots scraping along the ground, occasionally yelling about one must-have item or another. When I couldn't hear them, I kept reminding myself that of course they were fine, repeating the mantra "be rational" in my mind.

"Choose Your Parents Wisely; Parenting in America." Economist. 26 Jul. 2014: 21+. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015

However, there are two worries about modern parenting. One concerns "helicopter parents" (largely at the top of the social scale), who hover over their children's lives, worrying themselves sick, depriving their offspring of independence and doing far more for them than is actually beneficial. This gets a lot of attention, probably because media folk belong to the helicoptering classes. The other worry concerns parents at the bottom, who struggle to prepare their children for a world in which the unskilled are marginalised. This is far more important.

Sollisch, Jim. "Why Boomer Parents Ruined Everything." Washington Post - Blogs. 01 Jul. 2014: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

I called several parents to plead the case that our kids be allowed to play ball after school like we did. Several mothers offered to accompany the kids. I tried to break it to them that part of what our boys needed was the absence of adults. Several parents told me, frankly, that it was a safety issue. Just too dangerous. Those damn milk cartons. They created the illusion that kids were being snatched off the streets at an alarming rate. But the truth was that most of the kids on milk cartons were taken by a relative, usually one of their parents. I did some research and found that the number of child abductions by strangers had remained unchanged in the past 50 years even as the population grew. I told the parents that the odds of us being abducted in The Wonder Years was slightly greater than the risk for our kids today. The parents remained unmoved. Fear is not subject to the laws of logic.

Sollisch, Jim. "Why Boomer Parents Ruined Everything." Washington Post - Blogs. 01 Jul. 2014: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

I don't know how we took that freedom and denied it to our children. We were raised in The Wonder Years and gave our kids The Anxiety Years. We hurried them from one extra-curricular enrichment activity to the next every Saturday. We gave them phones so they could call us every twelve minutes if somehow we weren't in the stands or seats watching them or driving them to their next event. When Zack, my oldest, was in third grade in the mid-nineties, we lived a few blocks from the school. No big streets to cross. Most of his friends walked to and from school. Zack tried to organize baseball games after school. But none of his friends were allowed to go to the school playground after school to join him. Their parents were afraid. These were the milk carton years, which were crucial in the evolution of the helicopter parent.

I looked at my wife with judgey eyes, as if she had broken an unspoken but clear agreement: We stay on the small hill. I trailed behind them up the hill. What was I going to do? Run alongside the toboggan to somehow prevent a surefire concussion? Every part of me was seizing up with panic; my body went slack with relief when my daughter changed her mind and decided to stick to the small hill

Bernstein, Elizabeth. "The Helicopter Parents are Hovering on Facebook." Wall Street Journal. 08 Sep. 2009: B.7. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

I think they figure that their friends are watching but we're not, because they think we are old and decrepit and we barely know how to turn the computer on," says Dr. Rivera, 54-years-old, of being a parent. In the new era of helicopter parenting, more and more parents and kids are meeting up, and clashing, on Facebook, MySpace and other social-networking sites. Nate Rivera, who lives in Chicago, says he unfriended his father for several reasons, including his comment about money and other "snide" remarks. "It was mildly pestering," he says. "I thought, 'Do I need this?'"

Bernstein, Elizabeth. "The Helicopter Parents are Hovering on Facebook." Wall Street Journal. 08 Sep. 2009: B.7. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

I want my kids to be self-reliant, resilient, confident, caring and respectful people. But following them around with my face locked in a horrified rictus and my arms outstretched in case they fall isn't quite furthering that goal. We helicopter parents might have the best intentions, but the results have shown that the efforts have completely backfired.

Michaud, Anne. "The Downside of Helicopter Parenting." Newsday. 29 Jan. 2015: A.30. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

I would have been a more protective mother if I hadn't married someone who liked jumping out of airplanes. One afternoon when my husband was throwing our younger daughter into the air and catching her, a friend pulled me aside to warn that experts say that tossing kids can cause brain damage - even if it's all for fun. We had our two daughters swimming as infants, skiing at 3, and taking a flight together to Ohio, without their parents, when they were 11 and 13. They lost their boarding passes during the layover but successfully sought help from an airport security guard. "Face your fears" is a family motto.

Giridharadas, Anand. "Incentive for Pushy Parenting." International New York Times. 28 Oct. 2014: 2. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015.

In a complex market economy, giving children a freer rein improved their chances of finding the best use for their talents. Or, as the paper puts it, "The decline in authoritarian parenting is driven by rising economic returns to independence." But this trend wasn't, apparently, inexorable. After a peak of permissive parenting in the relatively low-inequality postwar years, the gap between rich and poor widened again worldwide -- and the trend was especially acute in America. And, Professors Zilibotti and Doepke suggest, parenting styles backtracked in the direction of authority and intrusion. The hours that American parents devote to child care have risen sharply from the mid-1980s, for example. "Permissive parenting is less attractive when the stakes are high," they write, "i.e., when adult-style behavior is especially important for children's future success."

"Choose Your Parents Wisely; Parenting in America." Economist. 26 Jul. 2014: 21+. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015

In a study in 1995, Betty Hart and Todd Risley of the University of Kansas found that children in professional families heard on average 2,100 words an hour. Working-class kids heard 1,200; those whose families lived on welfare heard only 600. By the age of three, a doctor's or lawyer's child has probably heard 30m more words than a poor child has.

In one giant (for me) baby step, I recently let my kids roam about a toy store. Usually, they love to run through the aisles hiding from me. I'll chase them down, barking at them to stay in my sight. That usual initial wave of fear vanished after a moment or two of telling myself they're fine, although every time the front door opened I looked to make sure they weren't leaving through it.

Sultan, Aisha. "The Art of Not Helping: Let Children Do Their Own Homework." St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 21 Sep. 2014: H.1. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015

My crucible was a papier-mache pueblo village. A fifth-grade teacher assigned my daughter the project as part of a social studies unit. Typically, she worked on projects like this with a fair amount parental guidance and oversight. I pass over the math word problems to my spouse, but crafty and creative research assignments? That's my jam.

In other words, I need to give my kids space to do the things I know they are capable of doing by themselves, and force myself to be rational in the face of irrational worries. It's hardly as easy as it sounds. At the park now, I can hear my rational self calling to me like a police officer holding a bullhorn: "Step away from the climber. Everything is going to be okay. Step away from the climber." So I take a deep breath and sit on the bench.

Instinctively and without fail, I always imagine the worst-case scenario. Take for instance the time a few weeks ago when my wife and I took our kids, who are six and three, tobogganing. There was a small hill, and a very, very big hill that kids were racing down as though they were testing the sound barrier. Most didn't make it to the bottom without tumbling off their sleds. After a few runs down the small hill, my wife asked our daughter if she wanted to try the big hill.

It was the norm then. Today, it borders on being criminal. In the latest example of our tendency to mock helicopter parents yet castigate those who give their kids too much freedom, a couple who live in Maryland found themselves under investigation for negligence for allowing their children, ages 10 and six, to walk home alone about a mile from a park. Even though that's how I grew up, every part of me seizes with terror at the very idea of my kids doing that. The terrible things that could happen. I can't even speak them for fear of making them real. They're like Voldemort. I'm not joking.

It's simple to focus on my kids as they are now. But I have to square that with who they will be when they grow up. "We're always in this place of reconciling living with a toddler and raising a future adult," says Vicki Hoefle, author of The Straight Talk on Parenting: A No-Nonsense Approach on How to Grow a Grown-Up. "The first thing is to really get to know yourself and get to know the child you are living with, and then honour where your boundaries are so that you don't take on too much, too fast," Hoefle says.

Michaud, Anne. "The Downside of Helicopter Parenting." Newsday. 29 Jan. 2015: A.30. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

Kids should be pushed as far as they will go, as soon as they are ready. In the aviary, I would be the mom shoving her chicks from the nest. That's how they experience risk-taking, freedom and danger - all while they're young enough to have their parents around to catch them, give them a hug and advise a brush- yourself-off better set of choices. Soon enough, the kids will be required to fly on their own without us close by.

Michaud, Anne. "The Downside of Helicopter Parenting." Newsday. 29 Jan. 2015: A.30. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

Like my overprotective friend, those police officers and social workers in Maryland aren't unusual. They mirror our society's view that childhood is too precious to entrust to children. Our 24-7 news cycle magnifies dangers. Today we are more sensitive to children's psychological well-being - a wonderful development, up to a point.

"Choose Your Parents Wisely; Parenting in America." Economist. 26 Jul. 2014: 21+. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015

Likewise, the difference between high-school dropouts and the rest was far greater than the gap between high-school and college graduates. Mr Reeves and Ms Howard estimate that if moms in the bottom fifth were averagely effective parents, 9% more of their kids would graduate from high school, 6% fewer would become teen parents and 3% fewer would be convicted of a crime by the age of 19.

Multiple studies conducted over the past five years have shown that college students raised by helicopter parents exhibit a long list of worrisome traits: They are more vulnerable, anxious and self-conscious compared with peers whose parents took a more hands-off approach. They also have decreased feelings of autonomy and competence, as well as being less open to new ideas.

Skinner, Quinton. "It's Not (All) Their Fault." Minnesota Monthly. Feb. 2014: 16. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

Mortimer and other researchers tracked a group of young people in St. Paul from the time they were 14 until they were in their late 30s, gathering data on their transition into adulthood. "This cohort graduated from high school in 1991, and they were almost universally able to get jobs when they were in high school. They worked part-time, and much of my study was focused on the impacts of this early work experience. "Today it's much harder for teenagers to get jobs. Employers look for experience--this is a long-term trend, the decline of employment among teenagers.

Sultan, Aisha. "The Art of Not Helping: Let Children Do Their Own Homework." St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 21 Sep. 2014: H.1. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015

Most of the parental involvement didn't translate to better scores or better long-term outcomes. Robinson and Harris' data, published in the Broken Compass: Parental Involvement With Children's Education, found that once students enter middle school, parental help with homework can actually bring test scores down. The things that did seem to help? Reading to young children and talking to teenagers about college. Sending the message that school is important and providing support and encouragement when a child's academic performance falters.

Bernstein, Elizabeth. "The Helicopter Parents are Hovering on Facebook." Wall Street Journal. 08 Sep. 2009: B.7. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

Mr. O'Driscoll likes to keep tabs on whom his 18-year-old daughter, Holly, is friends with on Facebook--especially the boys. Several times recently, he says, he's used information he discovered on his daughter's Facebook page to spark a discussion with her in person, most recently about the need for a boy to ask her out by calling, rather than texting or emailing. "It's a good way to have some contact in your child's life," says Mr. O'Driscoll, an executive at a consulting firm.

"Relax, Your Kids Will Be Fine." Economist. 26 Jul. 2014: 14. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

Ms Harrell's draconian punishment reflects the rich world's angst about parenting. By most objective measures, modern parents are far more conscientious than previous generations. Since 1965 labour-saving devices such as washing machines and ready meals have freed eight hours a week for the average American couple, but slightly more than all of that time has been swallowed up by childcare. Dads are far more hands-on than their fathers were, and working mothers spend more time nurturing their sprogs than the housewives of the 1960s did. This works for both sides: children need love and stimulation; and for the parents, reading to a child or playing ball games in the garden is more fulfilling than washing dishes.

Michaud, Anne. "The Downside of Helicopter Parenting." Newsday. 29 Jan. 2015: A.30. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

My heart goes out to parents Alexander and Danielle Meitiv. They told interviewers that they wanted to give their kids increasing responsibility, step by step. But Child Protective Services is demanding a "safety plan" pledge from the Meitivs, or they risk losing custody of their children. Since when did our paternal government decide to substitute his judgment for that of parents? The nanny state has spun out of control.

My six-year-old daughter is smiling up at me as she walks backward down the stairs. I feel my stomach clench as the thought flashes through my mind: She's going to miss a step, tumble down the stairs, crack her head on the hardwood. I want to yell, "Be careful," but I'm sure if I do that it will be what causes her to fall. So I hurry a few steps and walk down beside her.

Near the end of the class, the teacher guided all the kids to the far end of the pool, where a little yellow slide about three feet high stood perched on the water's edge. I moved instinctively a few steps closer to the door. Those slides are slippery, and I had a vision of my son tumbling backward onto the hard, cold tile. He was standing on top of the slide in his green shorts. He looked so fragile. I had my hand on the door's metal bar, ready to race in.

"Choose Your Parents Wisely; Parenting in America." Economist. 26 Jul. 2014: 21+. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015

Nonetheless, there is evidence that parenting matters. After reading enough scholarly papers to make a life-sized papier-mache elephant, Richard Reeves of the Brookings Institution, a think-tank, concludes that it accounts for about a third of the gap in development between rich and poor children. He argues that the "parenting gap" is more important than any other.

"Choose Your Parents Wisely; Parenting in America." Economist. 26 Jul. 2014: 21+. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015

Not so. Although the average American couple spent eight hours a week less on household chores in 2011 compared with 1965, according to the Pew Research Centre, more than all of this extra time was gobbled up by child care (see chart 1). Women now devote an extra four hours a week to looking after their offspring; men devote an extra four and a half. This is largely a good thing. For most people, teaching a kid to ride a bike is more rewarding than washing dishes. A different Pew survey finds that 62% of parents find child care "very meaningful", a figure that falls to 43% for housework and only 36% for paid work.

"Choose Your Parents Wisely; Parenting in America." Economist. 26 Jul. 2014: 21+. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015

Nothing the government can do will give the children of Cabin Creek the same life chances as the children of Bethesda. But weak parents can learn to be stronger, and outsiders can sometimes help them. In West Virginia, for example, an organisation called Zero to Three (as in, 0-3 years old) sends "parent educators" to families. They find them via the local maternity clinic, visit their homes and identify the parents most in need of help by looking for simple clues. For example, are there fewer than ten books visible? Does the family go out less than once a week?

Bernstein, Elizabeth. "The Helicopter Parents are Hovering on Facebook." Wall Street Journal. 08 Sep. 2009: B.7. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

Parents of teens are used to being snubbed, of course, but it's getting harder for kids to ignore mom and dad when they have access to their children's entire virtual social life. When Dave Hill's twin 14-year-old daughters Maddie and Megan wanted to create Facebook profiles in May, he laid down rules: They would have to be friends with him, and he would have to be friends with all their friends. "Part of this is being a careful parent and part of it is being in law enforcement for so long, and knowing what kind of freaks are out there," says Mr. Hill, a 46-year-old police lieutenant in Orange, Calif.

Bernstein, Elizabeth. "The Helicopter Parents are Hovering on Facebook." Wall Street Journal. 08 Sep. 2009: B.7. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

Perhaps as Generation Facebook grows up, the virtual parent-child relationship will sort itself out. We're already seeing proof. When 25-year-old Brandon Hendelman helped his mom set up her Facebook profile last year, he kept the password. He has used it to log on to her account and remove pictures of himself from his "awkward" teen-age stage, and sometimes to delete friends of his that she has befriended

"Choose Your Parents Wisely; Parenting in America." Economist. 26 Jul. 2014: 21+. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015

Perry generated $16 of benefit for every $1 spent on it, by one estimate. Another pre-school programme in Chicago showed a benefit-to-cost ratio of 10 to 1; the Elmira project in upstate New York was five to one; the Abecedarian project in North Carolina was four to one. All this suggests that, when it comes to education, the best returns will come not from pumping yet more money into schools but from investing in the earliest years of life. And that includes lending a helping hand to parents who struggle.

Giridharadas, Anand. "Incentive for Pushy Parenting." International New York Times. 28 Oct. 2014: 2. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015.

Professor Zilibotti is torn between his philosophical belief in laissez-faire child-rearing and the incentives of his era. Of raising his daughter, he said in an email, "I compromise every day (without renouncing some basic principles) with the fact that she will have to live in a certain society that rewards some particular skills and behavior." The professors mention, but glide over, the notion that more educated parents find it easier to respond to inequality in this way. For the American poor, saddled with multiple jobs, less likely to have spousal backup, parenting can shift back toward the fierce control seen in traditional societies rather than the strong transmission of values and guidance favored by the educated classes.

Michaud, Anne. "The Downside of Helicopter Parenting." Newsday. 29 Jan. 2015: A.30. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

Protective anxiety has risen to such a pitch that the Discovery Life Channel last week began a 13-part series called "World's Worst Mom," in which a coach trains parents to learn to let go. The coach is "Free Range Kids" author Lenore Skenazy, who allowed her 9-year-old son to ride the New York City subway alone and wrote about it. I wouldn't have gone that far with my kids, but each child is different. When parents - not to mention police and child services agents - are overanxious, they convey to their kids the message, I don't trust you to be competent. Worse, we teach children to doubt themselves - and we risk raising a nation of people who substitute a paternal government's judgments for their own.

"Choose Your Parents Wisely; Parenting in America." Economist. 26 Jul. 2014: 21+. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015

She has other things to worry about. The father of her first three children died. The father of her baby is not around. Her baby suffers from a rare nutritional disorder. And Melissa has to get by on $420 a month in government benefits. Small wonder that she struggles to enforce homework. And small wonder the gap between haves and have-nots in America is so hard to close. Parenting has changed dramatically in the past half-century. When labour-saving products such as washing machines, dishwashers and ready meals started to spread, people naturally assumed that parents would soon have much more free time.

Giridharadas, Anand. "Incentive for Pushy Parenting." International New York Times. 28 Oct. 2014: 2. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015.

Specifically, parents have reason to chill out and tend to do so in low-inequality settings, where the chances of becoming homeless, on one hand, or ultrarich, on the other, are low. Conversely, parents tend to turn kids into all-consuming projects in settings where a child can land anywhere on a spectrum of conditions from savage to cosseted, and where parents can influence that landing. Taking a broad historical view, Professors Zilibotti and Doepke argue that the centuries-long trend in parenting styles was the decline of the stern, authoritarian approach. As economies changed and children became more likely to pursue an occupation different from their parents', child-rearing evolved to be more permissive.

Sollisch, Jim. "Why Boomer Parents Ruined Everything." Washington Post - Blogs. 01 Jul. 2014: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

Summary: "Before we Boomers took the reins of parenting 30 years ago, parenting was still something you could do largely in the privacy of your home while maintaining a life filled with separate interests. We pretty much screwed that up, turning ourselves into 24/7 hover craft, inserting ourselves into every aspect of our children's lives, making sure they experience as little as possible on their own....Our parents were the opposite of the helicopter parents we became. They were submarines--hiding below the surface of our lives, surfacing only when they had to." (Washington Post - Blogs) This article is a commentary on helicopter parenting.

Skinner, Quinton. "It's Not (All) Their Fault." Minnesota Monthly. Feb. 2014: 16. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

Summary: "In 2012, 36 percent of America's young adults aged 18 to 31--the millennial generation--were living at home with their parents, the highest percentage in at least four decades....The image of families in the media includes berating and ridiculing parents for not letting go of their children--the term 'helicopter parents' is sometimes used....But there are real challenges facing young people in becoming educated, which is becoming a longer process and more costly than in the past, and difficulties in getting jobs and establishing themselves and, later, forming families." (Minnesota Monthly) This article examines economic and demographic trends that are impacting the youth labor market and making parents responsible for their children longer than in past generations.

Sultan, Aisha. "The Art of Not Helping: Let Children Do Their Own Homework." St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 21 Sep. 2014: H.1. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015

Summary: "The most thorough scientific investigation of how parental involvement affects students' academic achievement was published earlier this year [2014] by sociology professors Keith Robinson and Angel L. Harris. Their research found that parental help isn't always a help in the long run. It can actually be a hindrance....Most of the parental involvement didn't translate to better scores or better long-term outcomes." (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) This article is an opinion piece that opposes parental help with homework

"Choose Your Parents Wisely; Parenting in America." Economist. 26 Jul. 2014: 21+. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015

Summary: "[T]here are two worries about modern parenting. One concerns 'helicopter parents' (largely at the top of the social scale), who hover over their children's lives, worrying themselves sick, depriving their offspring of independence and doing far more for them than is actually beneficial....The other worry concerns parents at the bottom, who struggle to prepare their children for a world in which the unskilled are marginalised....America lavishes public money on school-age children (more than $12,000 per pupil each year) but virtually ignores the very young, despite strong evidence that the earliest years matter most....All this suggests that, when it comes to education, the best returns will come not from pumping yet more money into schools but from investing in the earliest years of life. And that includes lending a helping hand to parents who struggle." (Economist) This article examines the role of parenting in child development and academic achievement.

Giridharadas, Anand. "Incentive for Pushy Parenting." International New York Times. 28 Oct. 2014: 2. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015.

Summary: "A study by a pair of economists suggests that parents may take child-rearing cues, perhaps subliminally, from social inequality....Parents take child-rearing cues not only from their own parents and books and cultural osmosis, but also, and perhaps subliminally, from inequality....The paper, 'Parenting With Style,' is a useful reminder of how historic levels of inequality are reshaping the culture....The rich clutch their young close to protect them from the cruel public world; the poor simply survive." (International New York Times) This article reports on research into how economic conditions affect parenting styles.

Bernstein, Elizabeth. "The Helicopter Parents are Hovering on Facebook." Wall Street Journal. 08 Sep. 2009: B.7. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

Summary: "In the new era of helicopter parenting, more and more parents and kids are meeting up, and clashing, on Facebook, MySpace and other social-networking sites." (Wall Street Journal) This article explores parent-child relationships in a Web 2.0 context.

"Relax, Your Kids Will Be Fine." Economist. 26 Jul. 2014: 14. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

Summary: "Misguided ideas about child-rearing are still rife. Many parents fret that their offspring will die unless ceaselessly watched. In America the law can be equally paranoid. By most objective measures, modern parents are far more conscientious than previous generations. Even if poor parents spend more time with their children than they once did, they spend less than rich parents do--and they struggle to provide enough support, especially in the crucial early years. Meanwhile, well-educated, rich parents try to do too much....This does not mean that parenting is irrelevant....But beyond a certain point, parenting makes less difference than many parents imagine." (Economist) This article is a commentary that opposes "helicopter parenting."

Jayson, Sharon. "Do Helicopter Parents Help or Harm the Kids?." USA TODAY. 25 Sep. 2012: D.4. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

Summary: "The line between being a caring and involved parent and a hovering 'helicopter' parent is getting even murkier. New research says helicopter parenting isn't just part of the parenting vernacular, it's a distinct form of parenting that can have positive effects for adult children, but some negatives as well. So what's a parent to do? Are parents too pushy or their adult children just too needy? Research suggests that the big difference is between helping young adults and taking over their decisions." (USA TODAY) This article discusses the findings of research on helicopter parenting.

Michaud, Anne. "The Downside of Helicopter Parenting." Newsday. 29 Jan. 2015: A.30. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

Summary: "Today we are more sensitive to children's psychological well-being--a wonderful development, up to a point. But when we constantly remind children to consider the worst-case outcome--an abduction, a molestation--we make them fearful and anxious....When parents--not to mention police and child services agents--are overanxious, they convey to their kids the message, I don't trust you to be competent. Worse, we teach children to doubt themselves--and we risk raising a nation of people who substitute a paternal government's judgments for their own." (Newsday) This article is an opinion piece that opposes "helicopter parenting."

"Choose Your Parents Wisely; Parenting in America." Economist. 26 Jul. 2014: 21+. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015

Susan is, in short, a very conscientious mother. But she worries that she is not. She says she thinks about parenting "all the time". But, asked how many hours she spends with Shana, she says: "Probably not enough". Then she looks tearful, and describes the guilt she feels whenever she is not nurturing her daughter. Susan lives in Bethesda, an azalea-garlanded suburb of Washington, DC packed with lawyers, diplomats and other brainy types. The median household income, at $142,000, is nearly three times the American average. Some 84% of residents over the age of 25 are college graduates, compared with a national norm of 32%. Couples who both have advanced degrees are like well-tended lawns--ubiquitous.

Bernstein, Elizabeth. "The Helicopter Parents are Hovering on Facebook." Wall Street Journal. 08 Sep. 2009: B.7. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

Thanks to pictures posted on her 21-year-old son's page, Mrs. Miller learned he started smoking and whom he is dating. She then talked to her son about the choices he was making, using private messages sent on Facebook. On this platform, she says, "you can get more words out of him. It's less threatening." Her son couldn't be reached for comment. This virtual parenting is fine, experts say, but just to a point. "How would you feel if you were a teen and your mom listened in to every single conversation," says Neil Bernstein, an adolescent psychologist in Washington, D.C., and author of "There When He Needs You: How to Be an Available, Involved and Emotionally Connected Father to Your Son."

Giridharadas, Anand. "Incentive for Pushy Parenting." International New York Times. 28 Oct. 2014: 2. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015.

That is the conclusion of a pair of European economists who set out to study something more nebulous than interest rates or deficit reduction: parenting styles, and specifically the rise of so-called helicopter parenting, a topic endlessly discussed in the United States. The economists, Fabrizio Zilibotti and Matthias Doepke, both fathers themselves, wanted to understand how economic conditions affect parenting. What they found is likely to stir up already frothy parenting debates: Parents take child-rearing cues not only from their own parents and books and cultural osmosis, but also, and perhaps subliminally, from inequality.

Giridharadas, Anand. "Incentive for Pushy Parenting." International New York Times. 28 Oct. 2014: 2. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015.

The economists' own lives jibe with their data. Professor Zilibotti grew up in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, and Professor Doepke in a village outside Hannover in what was then West Germany. In interviews, they each described parents who let them roam freely and showed minimal interest in academic results. When their turn to parent came, each thought they'd be similarly relaxed -- but flute, violin, piano and cello lessons ensued. Oops: they were helicopter parents.

"Relax, Your Kids Will Be Fine." Economist. 26 Jul. 2014: 14. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

The fear about safety is the least rational. Despite the impression you get from watching crime dramas, children in rich countries are mind-bogglingly safe, so long as they look both ways before crossing the road. Kids in the 1950s--that golden era so often evoked by conservative politicians--were in fact five times likelier to die before the age of five. Yet their parents thought nothing of letting them roam free. In those days, most American children walked or biked to school; now barely 10% do, prevented by jittery parents. Children learn how to handle risks by taking a few, such as climbing trees or taking the train, even if that means scraped knees and seeing the occasional weirdo. Freedom is exhilarating. It also fosters self-reliance.

Jayson, Sharon. "Do Helicopter Parents Help or Harm the Kids?." USA TODAY. 25 Sep. 2012: D.4. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

The line between being a caring and involved parent and a hovering "helicopter" parent is getting even murkier. New research says helicopter parenting isn't just part of the parenting vernacular, it's a distinct form of parenting that can have positive effects for adult children, but some negatives as well. So what's a parent to do? Are parents too pushy or their adult children just too needy? Research suggests that the big difference is between helping young adults and taking over their decisions.

Sultan, Aisha. "The Art of Not Helping: Let Children Do Their Own Homework." St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 21 Sep. 2014: H.1. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015

The most thorough scientific investigation of how parental involvement affects students' academic achievement was published earlier this year by sociology professors Keith Robinson and Angel L. Harris. Their research found that parental help isn't always a help in the long run. It can actually be a hindrance.

"Relax, Your Kids Will Be Fine." Economist. 26 Jul. 2014: 14. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

The other popular parental fear--that your children might not get into an Ivy League college--is more rational. Academic success matters more than ever before. But beyond a certain point, parenting makes less difference than many parents imagine. Studies in Minnesota and Sweden, for example, found that identical twins grew up equally intelligent whether they were raised together or apart. A study in Colorado found that children adopted and raised by brainy parents ended up no brainier than those adopted by average parents. Genes appear to matter more than upbringing in the jobs market, too. In a big study of Korean children adopted in America, those raised by the richest families grew up to earn no more than those adopted by the poorest families.

Giridharadas, Anand. "Incentive for Pushy Parenting." International New York Times. 28 Oct. 2014: 2. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015.

The paper, "Parenting With Style," is a useful reminder of how historic levels of inequality are reshaping the culture. Its findings mirror those of other observers of this era: that faith in public systems and institutions is plummeting, and that in such times people don't trust broader society to mold their children. Slowly, the discarded ways of aristocracies return: The rich clutch their young close to protect them from the cruel public world; the poor simply survive.

"Choose Your Parents Wisely; Parenting in America." Economist. 26 Jul. 2014: 21+. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015

The parent educators don't just nag parents to read to their offspring more and hit them less. They also teach them how to interact with their kids in ways that stretch their minds: reasoning with them, answering their questions and teaching them basic skills. "I see a lot of parents doing things for their children because it saves time," says Heather Miller, a parent educator. "Even one mom who tied her 12-year-old son's laces. You have to learn to stop and let him do things for himself."

"Choose Your Parents Wisely; Parenting in America." Economist. 26 Jul. 2014: 21+. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015

The results are striking. Some 43% of mothers who dropped out of high school were ranked among the bottom 25% of parents, as were 44% of single mothers. The gap between high- and middle-income parents was small, but the gap between the middle and the bottom was large: 48% of parents in the lowest income quintile were also among the weakest parents, compared with 16% of the parents in the middle and 5% in the richest (see chart 2).

"Relax, Your Kids Will Be Fine." Economist. 26 Jul. 2014: 14. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

The second problem, less easy to prove, occurs at the other end of the income scale, and may even apply to otherwise rational Economist readers: well-educated, rich parents try to do too much. Safety is part of it: they fear that if they are not constantly vigilant their children may break their necks or eat a cupcake that has fallen on the floor. Over-coaching is another symptom. Parents fear that unless they drive their offspring to Mandarin classes, violin lessons and fencing practice six times a week, they will not get into the right university. The streets of Palo Alto and Chelsea are clogged with people-carriers hauling children from one educational event to another.

Michaud, Anne. "The Downside of Helicopter Parenting." Newsday. 29 Jan. 2015: A.30. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

The story about a brother and sister, ages 10 and 6, who were stopped by police on their walk home from a park in suburban Maryland raises doubts about how much protection modern-day kids need. The children had permission from their parents to walk the one mile home. But Maryland local police insisted on giving them a ride and obviously perceived the terrain as dangerous. By the time the 10-year-old got home, he was in tears worrying if his dad would be arrested. Instead, the parents are being investigated by county child services officials for neglect.

Sollisch, Jim. "Why Boomer Parents Ruined Everything." Washington Post - Blogs. 01 Jul. 2014: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

The study didn't extrapolate its findings beyond school. But it's not a huge leap to believe that there's a limit to the upside of parental involvement in other areas of our kids' lives, too. The current generation of parents is clearly taking its cues from the Boomers. They might do well to look at their grandparents' style--the greatest generation, the submarine parents. Maybe they did more than save the world from fascism--maybe they nailed the art of parenting, too.

"Choose Your Parents Wisely; Parenting in America." Economist. 26 Jul. 2014: 21+. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015

The two aspects of parenting that seem to matter most are intellectual stimulation (eg, talking, reading, answering "why?" questions) and emotional support (eg, bonding with infants so that they grow up confident and secure). Mr Reeves and his Brookings colleague Kimberly Howard take a composite measure of these things called the HOME scale (Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment) and relate it to how well children do in later life, using data from a big federal survey of those born in the 1980s and 1990s.

Then, this past weekend, my son had his first swimming lesson. I held his hand and coaxed him into the pool, where his teacher and three other kids were waiting. A lifeguard told me parents weren't allowed on deck, but let me stay a few extra minutes. After I finally left, I stood on the other side of a glass wall looking in, giving my son two thumbs up and an extra big smile every time he looked over.

"Mom and Dad are stalking me." Maclean's 14 Jan. 2013: 11. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 10 Apr. 2015

There are helicopter parents. And then there's David and Julie Ireland. The Kansas couple was so obsessed with keeping tabs on their 21-year-old daughter while she was away at school that they secretly installed electronic tracking software on her computer so they could read her emails and monitor her social media accounts. Mom and dad would show up unannounced and follow her around campus, and harassed University of Cincinnati officials about forcing their daughter into treatment for drugs and mental illness. The incessant stalking reached such absurd levels that Aubrey Ireland had no choice but to take her parents to court and demand a restraining order. A judge agreed. If either parent tries to contact her before September, they could face criminal charges. It was "like I was a dog with a collar on" Aubrey said. "It's just been really embarrassing and upsetting."

"Relax, Your Kids Will Be Fine." Economist. 26 Jul. 2014: 14. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

There are two blots in this picture, connected to class. One is at the lower end. Even if poor parents spend more time with their children than they once did, they spend less than rich parents do--and they struggle to provide enough support, especially in the crucial early years. America is a laggard here; its government spends abundantly on school-age kids but much less than other rich countries on the first two or three years of life. As this newspaper has pointed out before, if America did more to help poor parents with young children, it would yield huge returns.

"Choose Your Parents Wisely; Parenting in America." Economist. 26 Jul. 2014: 21+. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015

There is a large class divide in how Americans raise their children. Rich parents can afford to ease up a bit; poor parents need help Shana, a bright and chirpy 12-year-old, goes to ballet classes four nights a week, plus Hebrew school on Wednesday night and Sunday morning. Her mother Susan, a high-flying civil servant, played her Baby Einstein videos as an infant, read to her constantly, sent her to excellent schools and was scrupulous about handwashing.

Sultan, Aisha. "The Art of Not Helping: Let Children Do Their Own Homework." St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 21 Sep. 2014: H.1. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015

There is wisdom in letting children try on their own even when they are getting it wrong. But this is also not to say children should be left to sink or swim on their own. Sal Khan, founder of Khan Academy, recently wrote an op-ed in which he described not helping as his 5-year-old son struggled for a minute to sound out the word "gratefully" while reading a book together. Parents have a natural impulse to want to step in at the first sign of difficulty.

Sultan, Aisha. "The Art of Not Helping: Let Children Do Their Own Homework." St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 21 Sep. 2014: H.1. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015

They reviewed nearly three decades' worth of surveys of American parents and assessed more than 60 different measures of parental participation, from helping them with homework to volunteering at schools, and controlled for parents' race, class and level of education. They looked at the relationship between that involvement and the students' academic progress, by measures such as reading and math test scores.

"Relax, Your Kids Will Be Fine." Economist. 26 Jul. 2014: 14. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

This does not mean that parenting is irrelevant. The families who adopt children are carefully screened, so they tend to be warm, capable and middle-class. But the twin and adoption studies indicate that any child given a loving home and adequate stimulation is likely to fulfil her potential. Put another way, better-off parents can afford to relax a bit. Your kids will be fine if you hover over them less and let them frolic in the sun from time to time. You may be happier, too, if you spend the extra time indulging your own hobbies--or sleeping. And if you are less stressed, your children will appreciate it, even if you still make them eat their fruit and vegetables.

This fretting is rooted in a fear of unforeseen outcomes, a desire for control. It's also a textbook definition of helicopter parenting. As a culture, we are obsessed with protecting kids - from building playgrounds with cushioned surfaces to preventing them from climbing trees. Yet, nobody wants to admit to being one. (Even I shake my head derisively when I hear about places such as Hamilton banning tobogganing for safety reasons.) But I am one and I want to change. I don't want to raise worriers who will tremble like lab mice at the first sign of any hardship.

Jayson, Sharon. "Do Helicopter Parents Help or Harm the Kids?." USA TODAY. 25 Sep. 2012: D.4. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

Unlike most studies about this topic that focus on current college students or the college-educated, two-thirds of the adult kids were from a non-college population, showing that helicopter parents aren't just among the well-educated. The only negative these researchers found was among parents who perceived their adult kids needed too much support--the parents had poorer life satisfaction. "It's only bad when parents perceive it as being too much," says lead author Karen Fingerman, a professor of human development and family sciences at the University of Texas in Austin. But more negatives were uncovered in a study published last year in the journal Social Spectrum. Young people whose parents hovered too much reported significantly lower psychological well-being, used more medication for anxiety and depression and abused pain pills

"Choose Your Parents Wisely; Parenting in America." Economist. 26 Jul. 2014: 21+. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015

Veronica is an accountant; her husband is an engineer. Their children "all know that school doesn't end at 18," says Veronica. "They assume they'll go to college and do a master's." Asked how often she checks her various children's progress on Edline, the local schools' website that shows grades in real time, she admits: "More than I should, probably." In "Coming Apart", Charles Murray, a social scientist, ranked American zip codes by income and educational attainment. Bethesda is in the top 1%. Kids raised in such "superzips" tend to learn a lot while young and earn a lot as adults. Those raised in not-so-super zips are not so lucky.

Sollisch, Jim. "Why Boomer Parents Ruined Everything." Washington Post - Blogs. 01 Jul. 2014: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

We all know parents who spend more time on their kids' science projects and research papers than the kids themselves. I made feeble efforts for years to do homework with my kids. It always seemed a bit awkward and unnatural and almost always ended up irritating both parties. So I read this headline in the New York Times with the joy of a man who has finally been told that eating kale isn't actually good for him: "Parental involvement is overrated." What follows is an essay by two sociologists, Angel Harris and Keith Robinson, summarizing their longitudinal study of the measurable effects of parental involvement on student performance. They found that regular parental help with homework "yielded no benefit to children's test scores or grades." They write, "In fact, there were more instances in which children had higher levels of achievement when their parents were less involved than there were among those whose parents were more involved."

"Choose Your Parents Wisely; Parenting in America." Economist. 26 Jul. 2014: 21+. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015

Well-off parents talk to their school-age children for three more hours each week than low-income parents, according to Meredith Phillips of the University of California, Los Angeles. They put their toddlers and babies in stimulating places such as parks and churches for four-and-a-half more hours. And highly educated mothers are better at giving their children the right kind of stimulation for their age, according to Ariel Kalil of the University of Chicago. To simplify, they play with their toddlers more and organise their teenagers.

Sollisch, Jim. "Why Boomer Parents Ruined Everything." Washington Post - Blogs. 01 Jul. 2014: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

When I was in elementary school in the sixties, my parents only set foot in the building when I had done something bad. For the school to be graced by my parents' presence, I had to punch another kid or tell a teacher too loudly in front of the whole class that she didn't know what she was talking about. Breaking a window at recess with a baseball worked, too. Our parents were the opposite of the helicopter parents we became. They were submarines--hiding below the surface of our lives, surfacing only when they had to. We were free not only to master our homework on our own--or take the consequences of flubbing it--we were free to roam. We organized baseball games and raked people's yards to get money to buy baseball cards and candy from stores we walked to on our own. We built tree houses and forts in the woods behind our school with Dad's tools but without Dad's help. We had huge blocks of unscheduled time. We rode our bikes farther than we should have and explored neighborhoods outside our own. We learned the art of entertaining ourselves.

"Choose Your Parents Wisely; Parenting in America." Economist. 26 Jul. 2014: 21+. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015

When Lily was 18 months old, she did not talk. Zero to Three had her checked out and found that it was nothing to do with her intelligence: she simply had weak muscles in her mouth. The cure was cheap and jolly: her mom was shown how to tear up little bits of paper, scatter them on a table and dare Lily to blow them off through a straw. This strengthened her mouth muscles; now she chatters non-stop.

Bernstein, Elizabeth. "The Helicopter Parents are Hovering on Facebook." Wall Street Journal. 08 Sep. 2009: B.7. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

When he's working late shifts, he sometimes checks in briefly with his daughters on Facebook so he can hear about their day or say good night. He also likes to comment on their pictures. Once, when Maddie forgot to log out, he posted a status update under her name: "My dad is the coolest guy in the world." The girls mostly take it in stride. "I think he's funny, but not all the time," says Megan, who admits she likes when her dad comments that she looks pretty in pictures. Adds Maddie: "Our parents are looking out for us, and making sure no one is posting bad stuff." "Facebook is kind of like a parenting tool," says Joel O'Driscoll, a 41-year-old father of eight in Woodside, Calif.

Sultan, Aisha. "The Art of Not Helping: Let Children Do Their Own Homework." St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 21 Sep. 2014: H.1. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2015

When the next assignment involved making a puppet of Abraham Lincoln, she asked for some fabric and a sewing kit. I handed her the supplies and didn't even offer to thread the needle. The puppet's hat didn't quite fit. And the beard may have been a bit uneven. But she managed to capture the spirit of Honest Abe perfectly.

Where does this worry come from? I don't want it, but can't escape it. It's there almost every day: whether my kids are riding bicycles, running around on play structures, or going too high on the swings. I realize my fear of them getting hurt is disproportionate, but I can't ignore it - what if something were to happen? Something is bound to happen. And if it did, I couldn't live with myself.

Worrying runs in my family: For more than a decade, every time I left the house I was warned, day or night, about how many drunks were on the road. But even so, my older brother and I roamed free, walking to school in Grade 1 without any adult accompaniment. On weekends we spent whole mornings and afternoons down in a ravine.

Jayson, Sharon. "Do Helicopter Parents Help or Harm the Kids?." USA TODAY. 25 Sep. 2012: D.4. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

• 38% of 438 undergrads surveyed said a parent "solves any crisis or problem I might have." • 41% said a parent looks for jobs for them or tries to find other opportunities, such as internships or study abroad. • 15% said a parent "intervenes in solving problems with my employers or professors."

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