What is Parenting? Helicopter vs. Monster

What is Parenting?  According to Martin Davis, parenting can be defined as " the process of promoting and supporting the physical, emotional, social, and intellectual development of a child from infancy to adulthood."

Parenting style has evolved over years, especially in the past twenty years, with current economic growth, integration in technology and wealthier living has brought changes to parenting styles.  It has been generally said that parenting style has become over-protective, more contraining and controlling due to over worry and over-caring.  In fact, several terms have newly appeared in decribing such parents:

Helicopter Parents: origined in the U.S., first used in the book "Parenting With Love And Logic" by Foster W. Cline, M.D., and Jim Fay, which was a term used to refer to Parents who are "hovering overhead" of their children.

Monster Parents: First used by Japanese Educator Mr. Onoda Masatoshi in 1990s, who used the term Monster Parents to describe parents who complain on teachers to put pressure on them, with the purpose of maximising benefits of their children.  The term is later exported to the Western world and is used to describe parents who are "over-controlling" and "over-protective" of their children.

The Major differences between the two, besides the origin countries of the terms,  it would be the targets (or victims, I rather) of the two - Helicopter Parents put pressure on their kids while Monster Parents put pressure on the teachers (and educators).

From today onwards, I will update the blog on a daily/bi-daily basis to explore on this topic, and the possible psychopathological effect it brings to different parties, the parents, the children and the teachers.

Stay tuned.