The Effects of Helicopter Parents on Young Adults

The definition of a helicopter parent is one who is closely involved with everything that their child participates in or the people that they are friends with. I had helicopter parents growing up. I never was allowed to leave the house because my parents didn’t trust that I was doing what I said I was going to do. They never allowed me to buy a car until I started college because they wouldn’t allow me to have any freedom to go to football games or to hang out with friends I made in school. Every time I did go out with friends, my parents would have to know everything that we had planned on doing, when I was going to be home, and if I had done any drugs or drank any alcohol. They would not allow me to have a job until I have turned 17 and my job is less than a mile from my house. I was not allowed to have social media until I turned a junior in high school. My parents made me give them the password so they could check to see if I had been private messaging anyone. They would also check my phone on a regular basis to see who I had been texting and calling, what apps I had on my phone, and if I had talked to anyone they didn’t approve of. Now that I have started at Kilgore College, nothing has changed. I now have a vehicle that my dad had to co-sign on so that if they ever feel the need to take it from me, his name is on the car and he won’t have to go to court to get it. I also am not allowed to leave campus unless I have their permission.

When I was in high school, they would check my grades every day and if it was below a B than they would ground me and take away everything that I owned that was electronic. Now I know what you must be thinking, I could just sneak off campus anytime I wanted or just not come to school in the first place. That’s where you would be wrong. They talked my aunt into putting a tracker on my phone so they could see where I was, all of my text messages, or calls that had come into my phone whether I had erased them or not. I did lie to them a few times about what my friends and I had been doing. I know it was not right, but sometimes a person needs a social life. Kids who have no social life turn out to be financially dependent on people, insecure about themselves, and have social anxiety. Trust me, I am speaking from living in a household of helicopter parents.