Helicopter Mom

What is a helicopter mom?

An overly involved mom

A helicopter mom is a mother who pays extremely close attention to her child, hovering over them like a helicopter. The term dates back to Dr. Haim Ginott's 1969 book Between Parent & Teenager and gained wide usage as a descriptor for many boomer parents from the 1980s to 2010s.

Helicopter parenting is regarded as a negative parenting style. With this approach, the guardian spends so much effort controlling, analyzing, and protecting their child that they don't allow them to learn and grow into autonomous, functioning adults.

Helicopter parenting may occur over the whole span of childhood into adulthood. For example, a helicopter mom may closely follow her toddler when they are learning to walk to never let them fall. Or, a helicopter mom of a student in college may call a professor to complain about their grades.

Example

My husband has never done laundry or paid bills because his helicopter mom always did it for him

Helicopter moms have a hard time letting go

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Updated March 1, 2022

Helicopter mom definition by Slang.net - The Slang Dictionary

This page explains what the slang term "Helicopter mom" means. The definition, example, and related terms listed above have been manually compiled and written by the Slang.net team.

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