http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-07-07/helicopter-parents-and-the-kids-who-just-can-tMegan McArdle (whose opinion I respect, even if I don't always agree) is talking about the consequences of helicopter parenting and that adult children are increasingly tied to their parents.
1 Do read the article.
She doesn't go into the causes of the current regime of (legally required!
2) helicopter parenting.
I will attempt to do so. One of the major reasons is the delaying of the formation of the family. As you age, you are generally more risk averse and that will include your parenting style. Thus, a 38 year old with their first child will be far more cautious about any risk to the child than a 20 year old would be.
This is also related to family size.
It is clearly not a conscious decision3, but if you have only one child, you are likely to accept less risk to that one and only child than if he were one of five or six.
Continuing on the role of family size, parents are only able to "helicopter" if they have minimal children. With 2, especially when they are spaced many years apart, you can control their lives far more easily than a family with 4 or more children.
I should note that "risk" here is not just to life and limb, but also the "risk" that they will not have the right education or the right mate et cetera.
Connected to this is the propaganda of the past 40+ years that the only way to succeed in life is to have a college degree. Thus, getting into the "right" college is the assurance (under this propaganda) that the child will be successful. So parenting becomes all about ensuring your child gets to that point and then you've succeeded in making them successful.
Lastly (though I am sure there are far more causes), this is a result degradation of marriage that began even before "no-fault divorce." (Yes, I'm tying it back into the culture war.)
The gay marriage insanity is but a continuation of the view that marriage is about and for adults. Thus, childbearing and rearing has become about and for adults as well. If you are having the child
for your own benefit you tie your self worth into the success or failure of that child. Parents with this view, therefore, take a more active role in the success of that child. This leads to the "helicopter" parenting which, ironically, decreases the ability of the child to care for himself.
We've assured that parenting and family are about the wants and needs of the parents and have created children who are unable to function without the will of the parents directing them.
1 (yes, 1 again)1: Note, this is a trend, not an indication that there are no longer any independent young people. I happen to know one who has a job and her own house and is fiercely independent, even if it means she makes some mistakes. Further note, she's not my daughter, so this is a relatively unbiased assessment.
2. Even if the law is not, per se, requiring it, fear of the respective Child Protection Agencies forces many who would prefer to be more hands off to "hover."
3. No one will suggest that people with multiple children view one as expendable. However, if we're going to argue for biological imperatives, having multiple progeny decreases the urge to assure that your sole progeny survives.
