Helicopter Parents Cause Easter Egg Hunt Cancellation

Store shelves may have been packed with jellybeans and chocolate eggs for weeks already, but a few hundred kids in Colorado won’t be finding any such goodies at their local Easter egg hunt this year. Organizers have decided to cancel an annual Colorado Springs Easter egg hunt in response to the aggressive behavior of parents at last April’s event, reports the Associated Press.

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Thanks to technical difficulties last year, the start signal was unclear and hundreds of parents eager to retrieve plastic eggs filled with donated candy and coupons jumped a rope meant to keep parents out. They swarmed the park snatching up all the eggs ending the hunt in a matter of seconds, explained Mazie Baalman, owner of Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and sponsor of the event. (We could have sworn Easter egg hunts were meant for kids.)

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Many are citing the festivity’s cancelation as a perfect example of helicopter parenting, a term used to describe parents who constantly hover over their children, overly concerned with and involved in their kids’ success, and willing to go to almost any extreme to prevent their children from failing, whether it is at school or at a neighborhood event. 

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Ron Alsop, a former Wall Street Journal reporter and author of The Trophy Kids Grow Up explained to the AP, "They couldn't resist getting over the rope to help their kids.  They (parents) can't stay out of their children's lives. They don't give their children enough chances to learn from hard knocks, mistakes."

Further, Alsop warns that this parenting dynamic goes beyond the boundaries of childhood, believing it has prompted at least two New York companies to establish "take your parent to work day" for new recruits as parents remain involved even after their children become adults. Yikes.

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Would you step in to see your kid succeed at an event intended for fun?  Would you consider yourself a helicopter parent?