In today’s world, it is an ever growing trend for parents to become what is called a “helicopter parent”. What this type of parenting entails is never leaving your child’s side, making sure that you know their whereabouts 24/7 and basically controlling/overseeing every decision or move they make. The parents who can’t let their children be independent and don’t allow them to grow up. These parents tend to be extremely strict and very rarely allow the children to do anything out of the parents' comfort zone. These parents are terrified by the dangers of the world and wouldn’t be able to live with themselves if they didn’t do everything possible to prevent these dangers from meeting their children. Due to the media-induced terror, these children are suffering.

The reasoning behind this new trending parenting style is the fact that the world is portrayed as scary and dangerous. Parents can’t let their children play outside because of the overwhelming fear that a strange van might lure their children away and they will never be seen again. In all actuality, abduction rates have not increased in a very long time. (Professor Schug at Widener University). I’m talking like back in the day when our grandparents were children. Along with the fact that 3/4 of abductions are done by family members or people who know the child according to www.seeker.com. Realistically speaking, your child has higher chances of getting harmed while driving to the destination in a car than they do from walking on their own. This lingering fear is instilled in the minds of parents by the media. The reason that people didn’t think that the crime happening today didn’t happen in previous years is because media did not get the story out to every household in America like it does in our current generation. You didn’t hear of events like you do today because you physically weren’t capable to. There was no way that you would have possibly known if a child got abducted in a faraway town so unless it happened to you, those things in your mind just “didn’t happen”.

Parenting in this way is even more harmful than what you are trying to prevent. Their children are at risk for depression, high anxiety, obesity, lack of happiness with life and will most likely hate their relationship with their parents. (Professor Schug at Widener University). These children will lack spatial ability and will be more likely to leave home at an older age. By playing outside and having independence, children gain. They gain knowledge of the world, they learn how to problem solve, and they make mistakes that turn into lessons learned. Let your children have the experiences you had, don’t make them grow up dependent on you and technology. Don’t let their favorite “play time” story be about video games or playing with an iPad. Let them live, let them make their own decisions when the time is right, let them become their own person.

Now granted, the world is not perfect and there are some major risks but that does not mean that you should strip your children of their childhood. There is a good balance between protection, structure and autonomy that must be met in order for your child to benefit greatly in life. It takes practice and diligence to become a great parent and there is no set of rules that must be followed to qualify as a great parent. All I am saying is please do not suffocate your child’s hopes, dreams and creativity because the world tells you that you should. Let them play.