Helicopter Parents Freak Out As Kids Go Off To Camp

You know something is wrong when parents are loosing it excessively when their children go to summer camp. Usually homesickness is the issue. Kids miss their familiar surrounding and want to go home, but the tables have been turned. More parents are beginning to develop “kidsickness”.

These aren’t your garden variety parents either. Kidsickness is striking the species known as Helicopter Parents. The ones that are overly involved in their kids life, being overprotective and helping out just a little too much. With the source of all their activity taken away, they go into a kind of kid withdrawal. Compensating by checking the camps website obsessively for updates on the little one’s lives.

The Kansas City Star reports:

These days, camp leaders and family counselors say it is an increasingly common dynamic. It used to be the homesick kid begging to come home from camp. While that still happens, they have noticed that it is often parents who have more trouble letting go.

They call it “kidsickness,” a condition attributed in large part to today’s more involved style of parenting. Observers also say it is only being exacerbated by our ability to be in constant contact by cell phone and computer, as well as many parents’ perception that the world is a more dangerous place.

Kansas City Star: Summer camps find a new trend: Kidsick parents, not homesick kids