More people admit to being helicopter parents than you’d think.
A quarter of parents raising teens admit that they are the main barrier to their kids becoming independent, according to a new poll from the University of Michigan published Monday.
The national survey of nearly 900 parents found most of those with kids between 14 and 18 who conceded to helicoptering said they did it because it was just easier to do things themselves.
“Our poll suggests that parents aren’t letting go of the reins as often as they could be to help teens successfully make that transition,” poll co-director Sarah Clark, a research scientist in the department of pediatrics, said in a press release.
“Parental over-involvement impedes teens from gaining experience and confidence to be independent in all aspects of their lives.”
The C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health found 97% of parents were trying to help their teen become more independent by allowing them to make more choices and handle things themselves.
But the poll found one quarter of parents struggled to do this — claiming they were too time-poor and felt it was quicker and less hassle to handle things themselves.
According to the report, 65% of parents trusted their 17- to 18-year-old to get enough sleep — but only 8% allowed them to make their own doctor appointments.
More than half of the parents surveyed also said their kids were not mature enough to take on more responsibility — something Clark called a self-fulfilling prophecy.
“This type of logic inhibits their teen from actually becoming more mature,” she said.
Instead of being overly involved, Clark suggested parents take on a supporting role and position themselves as a “backup resource” to be consulted only when the teen needed it.
“Parents need to carve out more time for supporting teens in their transition to adulthood,” she said.