Parents should be there for their children. They transport them, provide food, take care of them and protect them. That is fine since the parents feel their child cannot handle responsibilities at a young age. Until the child becomes trustworthy enough, that parent will be heavily involved in their life.

But what happens when the parents stay heavily involved throughout high school and college? An overly concerned, caring parent turns into a helicopter parent. The term helicopter parent refers to one who “hovers” over their child’s life and makes the executive decision no matter what.

Hovering can take place in a child’s workplace, school and home life.

Online College reported statistics about helicopter parenting from parents of elementary students to college students. One in four undergraduates reports asking parents to intervene in problems with professors or employers.

NBC News reports an incident in which a father’s son received a C grade on his college exam, and the father then called the professor at University of Arizona to express his opinion on why it should be a B. That incident then left his son feeling undermined and incapable.

This may be for the better or worse of that child. Kaneland High School students find that they experience it too.

Sophomore Jake Marczuk has his own view on it when he catches his parents on the verge of hovering.

“It is fine at times when I need advice, but it can be annoying if it’s personal information like when I’m texting someone and they always ask who I’m talking to,” Marczuk said.

Junior Riley Hannula disagrees with the parenting tactic of hovering.

“You’ve got to let your kids make mistakes for themselves. There’s a difference between offering advice and correcting every move the kid makes,” Hannula said.

According to the Journal of Child and Family studies, the more the parents are involved in a student’s school work and class selection, the less satisfied the student feels with their lives. The effects of it can change how they live their lives.

“I feel stressed out. I  just want to handle the situation by myself when I find them too involved in my life,” Marczuk said.

Helicopter parenting can also pressure their children into making career choices they don’t want to pursue.

Online college reports that 23 percent of students in the poll say that they pursued a career in business, but only seven percent of them said business was the career of most interest. Also one in five students thought it was alright to have their parent contact a prospective employer.

With all this interference in a child’s life, how much of it is the parent letting them live? Smothering and hovering over them will backfire. The parent shouldn’t act surprised they show up for their child’s job interview, and he doesn’t get it the job because they displayed an extreme case of hovering. The kid can’t do much, but what he can do is to tell the parents to back off.