Do you know what a “helicopter mom” is? I hadn’t heard the word until I went to hear a friend speak to a group of moms at a Mom2Mom meeting. A helicopter mom or dad is defined as a parent who goes ahead of their child and tries to remove all obstacles so that the child will not have to face adversity in life.
For example, a helicopter parent may manipulate the choosing of the tee ball team so that their child can be with their friends versus just taking a chance for their child to be on whatever team is randomly selected and hate the whole season.
A helicopter parent may become “chummy” with the popular girl’s mother so that their daughter will be invited to the birthday party rather than being left out and having hurt feelings.
This concept goes for both moms and dads, grandparents and just people in general who want things to go their way. This concept can actually carry through a lifetime. There is a fine line between “doing” for your kids to be a loving parent and trying to remove all obstacles so that they don’t have to ever suffer.
I didn’t know I had been a helicopter mom until that talk a few years ago and my kids are 27 and 23! I always thought I was doing what was best for them to try to help them from suffering from things I thought I could control.
But what if God removed all of those obstacles for us and we never had to suffer or never had to shed a tear. We may think that would be great! But would we ever depend on Him and get to know Him as our Savior if we never had to go through trials and suffering?
In Mark 2:17, Jesus said it’s not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick. If we never suffered or had a need, we would never turn to Jesus and we would think everything was in our own doing. We need to stop “helicoptering” everything around us – for our kids, for ourselves and for others. We need to trust God to work things out in HIs plan.
As I woke this morning to the rain, I tried to lay real still so that Roger wouldn’t wake and hear it raining because he had plans to get back in the fields today and plant. Eventually he’s going to wake up and see that it rained!
Maybe there is a reason for the rain. (Although I’m not quite sure about ALL of the rain we’ve had lately. 🙂 ) But if we truly believe Romans 8:28 that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, then we have to take the bad with the good and quit helicoptering all situations. It’s time to land the copter and give up the controls to the real Pilot.
