Like a lot of you, I have been spending the last few weeks at home with my son. And while that has presented some challenges, and there have definitely been days where we would both benefit from being able to run around downtown, get some ice cream, and see our friends, in general the time together has been really nice. One surprising benefit is that I have totally abandoned my former mom mantle: that of the helicopter parent.

In the past, I have totally been That Mom who likes to pretend that she’s chill and laidback but who is spending an awful lot of time hovering over her kid. Can you hear the blades chopping? I think somewhere in my head, I have conflated the idea of helicopter parenting with my parenting goal, Keeping My Child Absolutely Safe From Anything That Could Hurt Him, Ever. Over the years, I’ve worked to be better about this, and I’ve even been aided in this goal by my own kid (who soundly hates helicopter parenting).

But if anything has really sent me hurtling in whatever the opposite kind of parenting is, it’s being home all the time. It turns out that — surprise! — I don’t actually care when he goes to sleep. I also don’t care if he spends extra hours playing video games with his friends. And while I am diligent about making sure he attends his virtual math class on time, I don’t really care how he spends the rest of his time, either. I’m no longer getting involved in his friendships, and I’m not making sure he sets up a time to interact with other kids.

In a lot of ways, he’s running the show.

Source : https://www.littlethings.com/stopped-being-helicopter-parent/