What defines a helicopter parent?

[SWTXBelle]

With all of the discussion here about helicopter parents, I've been doing some thinking about parenting and where to draw the line. It also doesn't help that I'm packing off my eldest to college in a few short days.

I think all parents have an impulse to help and protect their children. I also think that most parents understand that you have to, from the child's earliest days , step back and let them start to seperate from you.

As an example, toddlers often stumble and fall. They will look at their parents for cues as to whether or not to be upset. I taught myself to say "Bingo!" whenever one of mine fell down, so they quickly learned to brush themselves off and get up again. Had I run with an icepack and band-aid to them every time they fell, they would have taken their cue from me and cried and wailed at every little bump. My rule - no blood, no band-aid.

The problem is when parents don't think about it at all - they automatically run in to make everything better, without giving their kids a chance to solve their problems on their own.

It's easy to be critical of heliparents, and I certainly don't want to let them off the hook. I worry about a generation of adults who aren't used to acting as adults. But I also can acknowledge that it's tough as a parent.

How do you define a helicopter parent? And why do you think we are suddenly seeing so many?