An Alternative to Helicopter Parenting

Sarah Larkin suggests that parents can avoid the anxiety of helicopter parenting by allowing children more freedom to play independently.

Writing for Word on Fire, Larkin observes that some parents attempt to direct every movement of their children, often citing personal anxiety as a reason to intervene in a child's play. She describes a situation at a park where a mother closely monitored and controlled her daughter's movements to manage her own stress.

Larkin proposes an alternative approach where she allows her toddler to play on a slide and her baby to play on the grass. She notes that she only intervenes when necessary to stop fights, comfort children experiencing separation anxiety, or move them to a different area of the park.