History Main / HelicopterParents

* ''Film/{{Steam}}'': Elizabeth's dad Frank is very controlling, with her mom going along on it. He micromanages everything she does, particularly trying to prevent Elizabeth sleeping with men (as they're conservative Catholics), though she [[LipstickLesbian actually only likes women]], but given his beliefs he wouldn't approve of that either. Elizabeth finally pushes back on this, happier to stay in a jail cell than be bailed out by him.

* ''Series/{{Castle}}'': "Kill the Messenger": The Wellesley Family, wealthy politicians and businessmen all, are controlled by [[EvilMatriarch Lennane Wellesley]], who manipulated every aspect of the family, from creating strict dress codes for the family, to preventing her son Winston from coming out of the closet publicly, to [[spoiler:orchestrating the murder of a young woman who was trying to reveal to Blake Wellesley that she was his illegitimate daughter from a one-time fling with a campaign worker]]. Her hold on the family has been slipping due to the onset of dementia, causing her to reveal all quite freely to the police when questioned.

[[caption-width-right:300:Thankfully, they don't identify as an Apache Attack Helicopter.]]

However, there are times when the parents are genuinely self-absorbed {{Control Freak}}s. They see the children as mere extensions of their own ambition, goals, or unfulfilled dreams, and can't abide thinking that the children might have their own desires that might conflict with those of the parents.

* ''Film/NoHardFeelings'': Percy's parents micro-manage his life, tracking his phone so they can know where he is at all times, getting one of his bullies in high school expelled and sent to military school, and of course setting up the whole scheme with Maddie. They agree to become more hands-off later on when he finally confronts them about it.

-->-- ''VideoGame/Injustice2'''

** Colette has a FriendlessBackground because her Pureblood family is so worried about her mixing with the 'wrong sort' of people. At first, she was home-schooled, and when her parents finally allowed her to attend Beauxbaton, they make sure that she is surrounded by her relatives and family acquaintances so that she can't socialize with other people.

** Sirius's mother is very eager to mould him back into a proper Black heir and wants him to marry so that he could learn responsibility. She would frequently barge into his house while he's unaware or send Kreacher to spy on him for her. She also tries to set him up with Colette and arranges for situations where they could be together without him knowing her involvement. Orion eventually tells her to stop, lest she pushes him away instead.

* [[https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/OCA/SandyHook11212014pdf.pdf A report]] on the Sandy Hook shooting portrays Nancy Lanza, the shooter's mother, as this. The report describes her as trying to stage-manage all of his problems for him, resulting in him becoming overly dependent on her and stunting his social development. At the same time, she believed she could handle his problems herself and repeatedly ignored the advice of therapists who warned her that he needed more drastic help.