Lawnmower parenting

Lawnmower parenting

I read an article recently on lawnmower parenting.  Did not even know such a term existed.  Was still trying to get used to helicopter parents.  Okay, not really but when I read the term at first, I was amazed. It feels like everything, every feeling, every reaction has to have a specific term.

*  Oppositional defiant disorder

*  Conduct disorder

*  Helicopter parents

A parent who clears all obstacles from their child’s path, so that they never have to deal with any problems by themselves. Instead of hovering, lawnmower parents clear a path for their child before they even take a step, pre-empting possible problems and mowing down obstacles in their child’s way.

I read the article and started off with thinking that those kinds of parents are really making the lives of their children difficult.  We cannot go ahead of them and smooth the road.  Mow the lawn so to speak.  They have to make mistakes in order to learn from them, right?

I’m not a helicopter parent.  I think.  Who knows how other people see me or judge my parenting skills?

Up until the moment I read that article I also thought I wasn’t a lawnmower parent.  Probably because I didn’t know such a term even existed.  I would never have seen myself as one even if I knew about it.

Then we had a meeting with Zander’s teachers to explain about his dyslexia and the help he will need from them and that we are willing to give everything we can from our side.  How he will have oral exams instead of writing them.  How he doesn’t have to write cursive.  How spelling won’t be taken into consideration so much.

Is that being a lawnmower parent?  Having a meeting to smooth out his path?  Maybe in a way.

I don’t know.  If it is, then I’m guilty of being a lawnmower parent.  Guilty of standing up for him before the problems even existed.

I have never had to do this for his brothers.  Hopefully I won’t have to again.

(I really don’t like mowing the lawn.)