There was a time when parents were rather uninvolved in childhood. Moms and dads would usually throw the door open during afternoons or weekends and encourage kids to go out and play. Come to think of it: there was no way of knowing where kids went, what they were doing, or how far they’ve gone. Children went off around the block, around town, parks, and even to the mall. These days?
Parents rarely let their offspring out of site.
Such involvement in the lives of children are triggered by multiple factors. One is fear of dire consequences in terms of the child safety and avoidance of life-threatening circumstances. Our society these days has become used to seeing news of children getting abducted, which causes anxiety to most parents. Worry can drive parents to take control in the belief that they can keep their child from ever being hurt or disappointed.
The rise of ‘helicopter parents’
Due to this fear, the tendency of most parents is to overcompensate. The change in parenting and childhood has been so dramatic in the ‘90s that the term “helicopter parent” was born.
The phrase was coined by child development researchers Jim Fay and Foster Cline to describe parents who would want to be involved with their child’s behavior in every possible aspect of their lives including schoolwork and playtime.
One would think that Helicopter Parenting only happens to parents with young kids, but because of the increasingly competitive world, kids in college find themselves with hovering parents who micromanage their nearly adult or adult kids to make sure they are at an advantage.
How helicopter parenting affects sex lives
Ironically, dating apps and other tech resources seemingly capable of introducing sex more easily than before do very little to the sex lives of most parents these days.
Technology these days should make jobs and household chores more manageable, shouldn’t it? But a study released in March in the Archives of Sexual Behavior concluded that American adults have less sexual intercourse than in the ‘90s.
Based on an extensive research from 1989 to 2014, the report says that the recorded decline in sexual activity, which is seven to nine times fewer, is the lowest by far. The results were all based on surveys handed out to people of different economic standings, educational levels, genders and religious background.
How is this even possible?
“Helicopter parenting is zapping energy that could go toward sex and other sensual activities,” certified sexuality counselor Eric Marlowe Garrison told CNN.
Family therapist Amanda Pasciucco agreed with Garrison and pointed out: “In previous years, children had more freedom and fewer organized activities, which meant more free time for their parents.”
Helicopter parenting has paved the way to what economists call a “demographic time bomb,” the vicious cycle of low fertility rates combined with decreasing spending. Couples these days are pressured to save money, so they avoid having kids, which in effect produces smaller future generations. While a modest population decline may improve broader standards of living, avoidance of sex, or the lack of it in couples, would cause most relationships to fall apart, experts observed.