Helicopter Parents

Black Canary: I'm guessing Talia was a helicopter mom.
Robin: My mother led the League of Assassins.
Black Canary: Too bad she's not here to fight for you.

— Injustice 2

Most parents want their children to be happy, healthy, and safe. Some, however, take this desire to not only an unreasonable level, but an obsession. These parents can be expected to get way more invested in their children's personal lives and interfere in their activities than what is healthy and/or necessary. These are Helicopter Parents — the kind of parents who hover over everything their child does like a helicopter (hence the name).

Such parents might keep their children in a Gilded Cage and prevent them from playing with other kids out of concern that they might injure themselves while roughhousing. When they do let the child out of the house, they'd probably insist on accompanying them to look out for potential trouble, instead. If the family is rich enough, they might send a bodyguard (or an entire army of them!) to follow the kids around, or install bugs on their kids' stuff so that they can be kept in constant surveillance.

These parents also tend to be overly picky about their child's choice of hobby and social circle (especially their Love Interest), because they fear that the child would ruin their bright future and suffer by dabbling in "useless" hobbies or hanging out with the "wrong" crowd. On the flip side, they might push their single adult children into an Arranged Marriage, because they have an Everyone Must Be Paired mindset, and believe that the children will also suffer if they marry too late (or don't marry at all).

In more "positive" cases, the parents might go out of their way to ensure their children's success by buying off competition, or otherwise use everything at their disposal to get rid of whatever obstacle may stand in the way of their children's dreams^note In Scandinavian countries these particular subtypes are known as "curling parents" since like curling players they "sweep away" anything in their children's path. In the Anglosphere, they are sometimes known as "lawnmower parents".. They'd harass the child's school, university, or even workplace to make sure that their little darling gets the best grade/position/achievements/etc. that the institution can offer.

Often, these parents don't mean any harm. They are genuinely concerned about their child's well-being, but they go about expressing them in the wrong ways. Nevertheless, they have a very rigid idea of what their child's ideal life should be like, and they are dead set to enforce said ideals on their offspring, ostensibly "for their own good". They seem to be under the impression that their child will inevitably get into some fatal mishap if they're not being watched 24/7. They also don't trust their child to make their own decisions about their career, education, etc. because, in their eyes, the child is too young to "know better" (and this may apply even if the child is already an adult themselves).

However, there are times when the parents are genuinely self-absorbed Control Freaks. 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.

Regardless of the parents' motives, this excessive interference is bound to annoy their child, who might start to resent their parents, and will try to emancipate themselves from said parents' influence.

A Sheltered Aristocrat and Lonely Rich Kid may owe their issues to such helicopter parenting.

Super-Trope to My Beloved Smother. Depending on the parents' priorities, this may overlap with Fantasy-Forbidding Father, Education Mama, Stage Mom, and Doting Parent. See also Boyfriend-Blocking Dad and Knight Templar Parent when the parents' protectiveness manifest in hostility, or even outright crime/violence, against those who (might) threaten their precious offspring. Also compare Almighty Mom, when a mother uses her motherly authority to scold/tell off anyone, including their children.

Contrast Hands-Off Parenting when the parents don't get involved with their children's lives, even when they should.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• BanG Dream!: Ran's Dad started out as a Fantasy-Forbidding Father, mostly because he saw her attempt at a band as "playing around" when she was supposed to be training to inherit the family's flower arranging school. After she convinced him that her band is serious, he swings to the opposite end of the spectrum, showing up for Afterglow concerts, delivering snacks for the band backstage, and, to Ran's embarrassment, buying ten copies of their debut album when it went on sale. A flashback shows that when Afterglow's members were small children, they were more Free-Range Children until an incident where Ran's father found them lost and crying in an attempt to deliver letters to Santa to the post office, at which point he tells them that they should never go anywhere without an adult.
• Crayon Shinchan: Shijuro Ohara, father to recurring character Nanako Ohara, is extremely overprotective of his daughter and often worries too much about her, despite loving her very much. One of the comic stories has Nanako thinking she's being followed by a stalker only to find out that's actually a private investigator Shijuro hired to keep tabs on Nanako; another story had Nanako taking a part-time job at a sushi restaurant, only for Shijuro to spend literally half a day in said restaurant (eating over 100 plates of sushi in a row) to watch his daughter at work.
• Shugo Chara!: Due to her previous failed kidnapping, Rima's parents are very controlling and overprotective, which has a large toll on Rima. Eventually she throws them a Calling the Old Man Out speech for treating her like an object to hoard and lock up rather than their daughter.
• There, Beyond the Beyond: Futaba has helicopter older siblings, whom he considers overprotective and are constantly calling/checking up on him whenever he's not home on time. This is why he gladly joins Kiara's adventures, so that he can be free from their frequent nagging.

Fanfics

• The Black Sheep Dog Series:
  • 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 about her involvement. Orion eventually tells her to stop, lest she pushes him away instead.
  • Colette has a Friendless Background 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 made sure that she is surrounded by her relatives and family acquaintances so that she couldn't socialize with other people.
• Infinity Train: Blossoming Trail: After the fiasco at the school's talent show, Professor Cerise kept Chloe in the Institute after school. But the problem with this is that he doesn't give her anything to do, doesn't pay attention to her unhappiness, and it's not really solving the problem because she still has to deal with bullies from school and has no one to talk to about her problems. Mr. Bradbury even points out to Ash that a suggestion to make Chloe go to counseling was downright refused and prevented Chloe from doing outside activities. This ends up ruining the Professor's reputation for good.
• Oversaturation: When Luna has rant after a call with an especially worried parent reacting to magical issues, she references helicopter parenting:
  Luna: You paranoid pile of projected anxiety! You give helicopters a bad name, you hovering, hairy worrywart! Take a deep breath, count to ten, and foreign as the concept may sound, RELAX!
• Trauma Stitched with Love: Murray is extremely protective over Vicky, as he forbade her from leaving the house, opting her to be home-schooled, instead.

Film — Animation

• Finding Nemo: Played for Drama with Marlin. He's very concerned about the welfare of his son Nemo and is nervous about sending him to school, but that's because when Nemo was an egg, a barracuda ate all the other eggs, plus Marlin's mate Coral.
• Turning Red: There's never any doubt that Ming Lee loves her daughter Mei dearly, but she picks some very bad ways to show it. She's extremely overprotective, getting worried if Mei is so much as ten minutes late getting home from school. She pressures Mei to be a perfect straight-A student. She's openly concerned that Mei's chosen friends are "odd", and subtly nudges Mei away from them. After Mei's red panda transformation manifests, Ming starts spying on her daughter at school as well. All of this is out of genuine concern for Mei's well-being, but one way or another, Ming is responsible for most of the problems Mei faces during the film.

Film — Live-Action

• Cold Enough For Snow: Hugh simply will not leave Pippa alone when she goes to university, finding out about her neighbouring students, setting up his office nearby, and playing golf with university lecturers, so that he can pry about how she is getting on.
• Dead Season: Kurt doesn't allow Rachel to leave her bedroom, on the pretext that she wouldn't be able to handle life post-outbreak. She hasn't been outside in months.
• No Hard Feelings: 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, letting him sleep in their room until well into his teens, deciding which Ivy League university he will go to, 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.
• Steam (2007): 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 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.
• The Wedding Banquet: Wai-Tung's parents are so desperate to see him get married that they fly a potential match over to him without his consent. They later pretty much entirely organize the wedding banquet, which Wai-Tung hadn't wanted but felt guilted into.

Literature

• Chrestomanci: Christopher's mother is a Control Freak social climber and his father a Workaholic who blew all his money, both of whom, though they do love him, want to dictate his life for personal gain.
• The Cornersville Trace Mythos: Jenny's parents are so overprotective of her that she considers ordering an espresso to be as exciting as ordering speed.
• Goblins in the Castle: The Baron turns out to have had these, as he mentions during the "Goblin Freedom Day" celebration in Goblins on the Prowl. Apparently, his parents went overprotective out of fear of losing him like they did his big sister, who just vanished one day.

Live-Action TV

• The Big Bang Theory: Howard and Bernadette are comparing their overprotective mothers. Bernie asks Howard if his mother picks out his clothes for him every day. Howard, sympathetic, asks, "You live with your mother?"
  Bernadette: No. That's the sad part.
• Boston Legal: One episode dealt with a frustrated teacher actually bringing a lawsuit against the parents of one of her students, as they were constantly calling, texting, and emailing her about their child. Her lawyers even use the term "helicopter parent" in court to describe them. The court comes down firmly on her side, with the judge setting strict guidelines for the parents as to when and how often they're allowed to contact the teacher.
• Castle: "Kill the Messenger": The Wellesley Family, wealthy politicians and businessmen all, are controlled by 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 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.
• In season 3 of Doom Patrol (2019), Cliff becomes a helicopter grandparent to his infant grandson Rory, taking advantage of his nearly-indefatigable robot body to attend to Rory's every need at all hours. While his daughter appreciates the help, his daughter-in-law worries about what will happen if Rory becomes too accustomed to being fed and rocked to sleep by a lumbering, foul-mouthed robot.
• Extracurricular: Gyu-ri's parents are control freaks who micromanage everything in her life from what she should eat and drink to her choices in makeup and romantic partners. She detests them for their overbearing attitude that she imagines that she shot them dead in her Imagine Spot.
• The Flash: Barry and Iris try to keep Nora out of everything to keep her safe until Nora convinces them that she is not as reckless as before and genuinely believes she can help.
• In Kamen Rider Geats, Neon Kurama was once kidnapped as a kid. This event caused her mother to be extremely overprotective to make sure she is safe as an adult; at one point it was revealed she put a tracking device on Neon's phone. She also doubles as an Abusive Parent when she hits Neon for confronting her about her actions.
• Trigonometry: Ray's mom is a bit overprotective to her, though Ray protests that she's now 31. It's somewhat justified as Ray suffered a serious injury a year earlier, though this doesn't explain all her mom does.

Music

• Craig David wrote and released "Fill Me In" at the height of the helicopter parenting phenomenon of the early 2000s. The song centers around him and his girlfriend having to keep their relationship a secret due to her overprotective parents (who otherwise liked him) forbidding her from dating him. David mentions that her parents always seem to be checking up on her and constantly asking her dozens of questions, which makes up the song's chorus.
• The Wall by Pink Floyd: Pink's father died before he was born, leading his mother to become highly overprotective of him due to believing that Pink is all she has left. The song "Mother" is specifically about Pink's mother heavily interfering with her son's life (e.g. picking out his girlfriends for him), and helping Pink build a wall that is intended to protect him from the outside world.

Video Games

• Criminal Case:
  • Criminal Case: Mysteries of the Past: Barbara Coldwell, the murder victim of Case 52, apparently never allowed her daughter Verushka to make her own decisions, and prohibited her from marrying until she's twenty-five (the girl is twenty-one). This is what got her killed.
    Verushka: She spent my entire life lording over me and hoggin' the spotlight! I could never be my own person! [...] She tried to control my life to the last little bit!
  • Criminal Case: The Conspiracy: Clive towards Mason, wanting to control every aspect of his son's life (such as the university he was going to attend) because it was family tradition to mold the Bloom heir in the parents' image.
• You can potentially become one in Crusader Kings and its sequel, because children are amongst the most easily controllable characters in the game and also of paramount importance for your family's survival. Children that are left to themselves (especially if you give them land to rule) have an annoying tendency to marry spouses that are statistically awful, hostile to you or worse, infertile or murder their siblings. While you do lose prestige over time if you don't grant your adult sons any land, it is still better to keep them under check at your court.
• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt: The player can make Geralt become this through his choices towards his apprentice Ciri. He considers her to be his surrogate daughter of sorts, but becoming too overprotective can result in a bad ending at the end of the story. Holding her hand too much and not allowing her to think for herself will ultimately kill her as it leaves her without the confidence to take on a great threat that only she can attempt to thwart.

Web Animation

• Etra chan saw it!: Hiiragi and Azami are extremely overprotective of their daughter Yuzuriha, to the point that they hire private investigators to dig up info on every boyfriend she gets. If they fail to meet their standards, the two pressure the boyfriend to dump Yuzuriha. Yuzuriha only learns about this when she announces her engagement to Kuroki, who does meet her parents' standards.
• Refreshing Stories: Reika's parents heavily involve themselves in their daughter's life even after she married Hiroshi. Hiroshi and Reika took them to Iceland for their honeymoon. The penguins there disturbed the couple, causing them to vow to never interfere with their daughter's life again.

Webcomics

• Visual Pun version in Insecticomics. Obsidian exposites to Kickback how he and his wife Stryka tried to constantly guide their only child into being a great Vehicon general... only to have him skip Cybertron to become an actor. Their son turns out to be Blackout from the Michael Bay Transformers Film Series. The joke is that both Obsidian and Blackout transform into VTOL craft and as such, Obsidian is literally a helicopter who is a parent, a parent to a helicopter, and a helicopter parent in the usual sense.
• Kevin & Kell calls them hovering parents because some species are able to hover in place. For example, Tammy is a moth that hovers over Angstrom, to a degree where the son's firefly light caused a fading on the underside of Tammy's wings.

Western Animation

• Jellystone!: Doggie Daddy admits more than once that almost his entire existence is based around taking care of his daughter, Augie. In "My Doggie Dave," he was mentally incapable of processing the idea of leaving Augie at home with a babysitter. He has shown a willingness to let Augie go to places he deems safe, such as school and the playground, but panics at the idea of her being even a few feet away from him otherwise in public.
• The Loud House: Howard and Harold McBride are very protective of their adopted son Clyde. They serve him lukewarm cocoa lest he burn his mouth, give him seatbelts on the tables, and have only recently started allowing him to eat pickles because they read that someone in the nineteenth century choked to death on one. When Clyde's friends come over, Howard and Harold treat them in the same overly-nurturing way as they do Clyde.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: In "Top Bolt", Vapor Trail confesses that she was an only child whose parents could never give her a second to herself, constantly wanting to spend time with her (which is the reason for her disdain for the spotlight). Fittingly, both her parents' cutie marks are shown to be helicopter propellers.
• Phineas and Ferb: Dr. Doofenshmirtz was the subject of a comically abusive childhood, so when it comes to his own daughter, he tries far too hard to be a doting and committed parent. This includes planning a birthday party more appropriate for a much younger child, wearing a Paper-Thin Disguise as a hippie to watch over her on a camping trip, and even getting a job as a teacher at her school.
• The Simpsons:
  • Marge Simpson, especially in later seasons. She went from being a loving, prepared, down-to-earth mother who lectured Bart whenever he was up to his old tricks to overprotecting him and being paranoid about his well-being. In "Sweets and Sour Marge", she enacts a sugar ban on the town of Springfield because she's worried that Lisa and Bart are getting to be as fat as their father.
  • Homer becomes one in "Father Knows Worst", trying to help Bart with his grades and Lisa make friends. He lets up when they end up just becoming miserable instead.

Other

• Garbage Pail Kids: Helicopter Heather/Obsessed Olga is a literal one: a Sentient Vehicle helicopter hovering over her sleeping baby and panicking.

Real Life

• In her memoir I'm Glad My Mom Died, Jennette McCurdy describes how her mother Debra pushed her into acting from age 6, sat in on all her many performance classes, "helped" her count calories from age 11, moved into her first apartment with her at age 19, and wouldn't let her shower alone until her late teens. There's a reason for that title, y'know?
• A report on the Sandy Hook shooting portrays Nancy Lanza, the shooter's mother, 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.

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