Mediate Michigan

Parents rarely get it all right the first time. We make mistakes: We’re anxious. We’re impatient. We’re overeager. And, usually, it’s the oldest child who pays the biggest price for our flaws.

Subsequent children are like a do-over – they are our chance to correct our behavior and make things right.

Now that I am a mom of two, there are some things I am doing differently with the second child. And it generally comes down to micromanagement, or what some experts call “helicopter parenting.”

A study published earlier this month in LiveScience says overly protective parents may unintentionally raise neurotic children who are unable to solve their own problems as they enter adulthood and have trouble adapting to new ideas or situations. The study, conducted on college freshmen, came about after college admissions counselors around the country began seeing an uptick in the number of parents who were intervening on behalf of their grown children to solve problems that previously had been handled between the university and the student.

via Are you a ‘helicopter’ parent?.