<p>Megpmom, as a person who did a lot of helicoptering of my kids, my own own childhood experience was precisely the opposite. My parents were completely uninvolved with my education, recreation, and everything else. Homework, tests, school events, grades, college admissions tests, applications, financial aid, etc. was entirely up to me. Some on CC maintain this makes a student more independent and of tougher mettle somehow. Yeah, I guess I was independent enough, but my parents did me no favors and many doors remained closed to me because I grew up in a small town (as did my own kids) and just didn’t have the perspective to know what was possible or how to execute ambitious goals.</p>
<p>I did better by my own kids who are having academic and cultural opportunities now I never dreamed of.</p>
<p>My whole philosophy of education is very different though than the school model, which is partly why I took my kids out of school and partly developed because of experiencing their education outside of an institution.</p>
<p>But was I very, very involved? Hovering, even? You bet. And they are now growing into splendid, productive young adults who don’t seem to have suffered for it. And having closed that chapter of being a homeschooling mom and now being mom to two kids away at college, I look back on it all with tremendous satisfaction, while also being excited by moving onto new things.</p>
<p>I guess my main point is, that while of course texting a kid answers to a test is ridiculous, there’s this unpleasant trend of parents criticizing other parents for being too involved with their kids. It’s almost like a pop-culture sport these days. I think it’s sad. Truthfully, it’s not about the degree of involvement, to me, it’s about the quality of the involvement. And even then, who the heck am I to judge another family in whose shoes I don’t walk? Maybe it’s fun to take potshots, but I just wish people were less defensive about their own degree of involvement so they didn’t feel the need to tout that everyone who is more involved then they are is a “helicopter parent” (I’m so sick of that term!) and everyone who is less involved is a negligent parent. It all feels very judgmental and at the same time defensive.</p>