Critical Response Essay - "Over"parenting

"The Growing Backlash Against Overparenting"
by Nancy Gibbs
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1940395,00.html

Parents are the very people that nurture us, care for us, teach us everything we need to know for the life ahead of us. They parent us, though a recent concern has arisen regarding "overparenting". Overparenting refers to parents who are involved in their children's lives at abnormally high levels. These parents are in control of every miniscule detail in their child's every day activity. Also known as "helicopter parenting", these parents hover over their children in hopes that they will become the "perfect" child. Although this way of parenting does have its benefits, all parents should know and follow the advice of D.H. Lawrence: "How to begin to educate a child. First rule: leave him alone. Second rule: leave him alone. Third rule: leave him alone. That is the whole beginning." Helicopter parents take great care when it comes to their children. They're the parents that hire professionals for their child's inability to create masterpieces, make every night a school night, and confiscate pencils for their potential danger. It is this fear that limits a child's experiences; the very thing that shape who they are and who they will become. To deprive children of their imagination does them a great disservice. Children must learn how to fall before they know to pick themselves up.
There should definitely be precautions based on rational safety rules, like seat belts and protective gear. It's the illogical precautions that attract attention. Parents have taken the extreme of photographing their child every morning. In case their child were to go missing, they have a current photo showing what they were wearing that day. It's these very extents that some parents go to for the sake of "protecting" their child, when in retrospect they're merely interfering. Children grow to become very dependent on their parents, lowering their ability to mature and gain independence. It's impractical to attempt to create a perfectly safe world for children. Parents shudder at the thought of allowing children to go to the store alone, while allowing them to ride in a car or taking showers alone have the same potential danger. Parents should trust children at a certain point with their own personal responsibility. A child will never know how to be safe if they're not aware of the dangers.
One of the major downfalls of this way of parenting is the deficit of learning experience. Parents attempt to perfect their child, making every effort to eliminate the mistakes. They completely disregard the fact that mistakes are the most important part of one's life. This is the mindset that motivates foreign language classes before the 5th grade and reduced outdoors time for the sake of longer classes. The effect magnifies when parents find their child "gifted", one of the most inadequate ways to classify a child. The parent of the child with a knack for music decides to find every possible music instructor to train them on their preset career path to stardom. Children lose interest the instant it becomes something they must do, rather than something they want to do.
Is this truly what children need? Parents are definitely to be involved, but is it right to spoon-feed a child, holding their hand through ever experience? It's counterintuitive to believe that the more involved, the better. Parents should initially provide breathing room for their children, and let nature run its course.