Sometimes parents just don’t know when to let go, but it’s rare when a judge needs to intervene.
That was the case for Aubrey Ireland, a 21-year-old music theater major at College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. She convinced a judge to grant her a restraining order against her parents, David and Julie Ireland.
According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, Ireland told the court that despite making the dean’s list, her parents would routinely drive 600 miles from Kansas to Ohio to make unannounced visits to her at school. Then they accused her of illegal drug use, promiscuity and mental illness.
Her parents allegedly became so overbearing that they installed keylogging software on her computer and cell phone to keep track of her every move. She told the court, “I was a dog with a collar on.”
Categories: Childhood
Well, I guess the use of ‘helicopter parents’ creates a nice trendy hook, but these are not ‘helicopter parents’; these are abusive, controlling parents. ‘Helicopter parents’ who are overly worried about and protective of their children do not stalk them or accuse them of horrible behavior or spy on their every computer keystroke. We’re not talking about parents who are embarrassing their daughter by calling the Dean of Students and anxiously asking if everything is going all right.
Also, admittedly, I find the ‘helicopter parent’ thing tedious because it’s simply a label that means ‘parents who are more involved/with protective of their kids than I am’. (Parents who are less involved/protective, of course, are neglectful.)