Absolutely Awful Helicopter Parents
It’s a parent’s job to look after and safeguard their children. However, sometimes being a protective parent morphs into something worse—a helicopter parent!
Constant hovering can lead to frustration, broken relationships, and kids who can’t even do the simplest task.
Keep reading to hear some stories from people who lived with helicopter parents that will leave one realizing that letting go of the reigns maybe isn’t such a bad thing.
1. All Work No Play
I had a second cousin the same age as me who had helicopter parents. All they would tell him was, "You need to focus on school/your career. Girls are a distraction that will keep you working at McDonald's the rest of your life so you can buy fancy cars and jewelry". It backfired so painfully. When we turned 30, he had never been on a serious date, and his parents started worrying.
When we turned 40, his parents started panicking. Staying away from females through all his developmental years made it nearly impossible for him to relate to them in a romantic way.
He had associates and colleagues who were women, but he treated them like guys. He didn’t really know what to do. He tried to date but found it just made him anxious and decided it was easier not to try.
If I could go back in time to when we were twelve, I would smack his mother upside the head.
2. Listen Up, We’re Done!
I had a helicopter mom. She was weird in that although she wanted to know all of my business and asked me endless questions about my life throughout my life, she never listened to or digested any of the information I told her. My mother watched a lot of Oprah when she was a stay-at-home mom. That show made my home life a nightmare. There were a lot of stories about children being abducted, talking to strangers, or trafficked. My mother then accused me of doing these things when I got home from school.
She had a million questions for me to satisfy her interrogation. Initially, I thought she was honestly concerned for me.
It wasn't until I got older that this seemed weird because she didn't actually discover whether I was doing any of these things or not. She just asked me many questions and then moved on to whatever was next on TV.
Through these and other interrogations about useless/irrelevant worries of hers, I learned to lie very well. When I had real problems that I should have been able to tell her about, I found it easier just to lie. It got even worse as I got older. I once lied to her about being at a bar when I was 23. I said I was there with friends watching a football game when I was on a date and didn't check my phone while on the date.
At 11 PM, I checked my phone and responded to her texts, saying I would be home after the game at around midnight. She didn't like that response and told me to come home immediately, which I ignored.
On the drive home from the bar at around 11:45 PM, I saw her car drive past me. My mother drove to the bar with the intention of bursting in, grabbing her 23-year-old son, and taking him home.
When she realized I wasn't there, she came home and started yelling at me for not coming back sooner. This led to an argument where I once again realized she wasn't listening to me. She was just mad I hadn't listened to her.
Although she never followed me to school or college, she picked out my classes and decided my career field. Her behavior resulted in my no longer having a mother-son relationship with her.
3. Out Of Control
A kid I graduated with had a total helicopter mom. She was at school almost every day of his junior and senior years. She filled out all of his college and scholarship applications for him, including telling him what to write on the essays. She chose his school and everything. The fallout was hard to watch. The kid ended up having a complete mental breakdown post-college.
He sunk into a deep depression and had to be put into in-patient therapy for a while. His mother treated him like he didn't even exist. She just completely controlled his every move.
4. At Her Beck And Call
My mother-in-law was both a helicopter parent and a narcissist, which made for a really awesome combination. To this day, she still calls my wife at least three times a day every day.
If my wife doesn't call her enough, my mother-in-law will call her and yell at her about it.
Years ago, before every cell plan became an unlimited voice, I had to get a landline for the house since we kept going over our minutes from my wife talking to her mom on the phone.
It drove me absolutely crazy. When we were dating, her mom would call her when we were on dates and tell her what a tramp she was and what an ungrateful person she was. She also called the middle school where my 35-year-old brother-in-law was subbing to tell the principal to stop picking on her precious little snowflake.
