The headmistress of a leading girls’ school has warned that “helicopter parenting” is preventing children from growing into healthy, self-sufficient adults.
Vicky Tuck, the principal of Cheltenham Ladies’ College, claims that some mothers and fathers are hindering their child’s ability to learn and become self-sufficient because they are constantly hovering overhead, supervising and directing.
?
The trend towards parents confiding in their children and treating them like mini-counsellors is also preventing children from being carefree and learning from their mistakes, she believes.
The “least selfish thing” a parent can do for their child was send him or her to boarding school, she told The Daily Telegraph.
“Growing up is a slow process with ups and downs. Children need to work out who they are, with a lot of support, but not in an intrusive way,” said Mrs Tuck, whose school charges boarding fees of ?24,528-a-year for girls aged 11 to 18.
The term “helicopter parenting” was coined by Madeleine Levine, an American clinical psychologist, who claimed in her book The Price of Privilege: “Kids are unbearably pressured not just to be good, but to be great; not just to be good at something, [but] to be good at everything.”
