Are you a ‘lawnmower’ parent?

Are you a helicopter parent or a lawnmower?

I know it sounds crazy right. Is there not enough judgment already? Years ago there was parenting styles which did label you into basically three categories- the authoritarian, the authoritative or the permissive and looking back I guess they labelled too but really are we going to continue down the path of judgment and labels for parents just because they may parent differently, more individually tailored to their family?

So if you, like me, are not so familiar with the new parenting of the lawnmower parent here is the basic run down. They unlike the helicopter parent who was famous for the hovering over/around this parenting style is about moving (or mowing) any pre-empted obstacles and/or problems out of the way before they even look like s spec on the horizon. This style of parenting often means that the parents are excessively anxious in particular about the safety of the child/ren & they can be exhausted purely by the sheer level of parenting it requires to remain alert and attend to these perceived dangers/issues.

What does this mean for the child? What impact does it have on the child?

it is believed that the child will be more dependent with the potential to be excluded from things as it may be seen that they (and their parents) are too difficult or too much hard work.

So what do you think? Is this insanity or just moving with the times? Do you identify or can you instantly think of someone who is a lawnmower parent? Is it a bad thing?

I actually don’t buy into all this labelling of parenting styles anymore. Do you want to know why? No, it isn’t because I may or may not fall into the category of one of them it is because I think parenting is a challenging enough job without the added judgment of others. To me all that is important is that my children are safe, know they are loved and happy. If that should mean they may at times be subjected to a style of parenting that is not the ‘in trend’….so be it.