LEAven Blog
On Helicopters, Lawn Mowers, and Jack Hammers
What do these three items have in common? They are terms that are used in educational circles to describe different types of parents, particularly difficult ones. Most teachers would admit that at some time, they have dealt with parents who have been challenging, to say the least. This leads to the question, have parents changed over the years? One article I read raised the question of whether dealing with parents post-pandemic was more difficult than pre-pandemic. As some educator bloggers have written, difficult parents pre-pandemic were bad, but post-pandemic are even worse. Would teachers and administrators in our Lutheran schools agree with this? Have parents become more difficult to deal with?
When doing research on this topic, I was surprised to read about several names given to overly involved parents. In addition to the ones listed in the title of this blog, a snowplow parent and a bulldozer parent were also identified. However, for the sake of this blog, I’m only going to discuss three types of parents that teachers may have encountered in their years of teaching—the helicopter parent, the lawnmower parent, and the jackhammer parent.
Helicopter parent is a term that most teachers are probably familiar with. This term was first introduced in 1990 in a book titled “Parenting Teens with Love & Logic.” In the book, the authors described helicopter parents as those who hover around their children, ready to sweep in and rescue them from disappointments and painful experiences. Unfortunately, these parents don’t allow for children to develop independence and learn from their failures and mistakes.1
While a helicopter parent can be challenging, the second type of parent—a lawnmower parent—can be even more so. While helicopter parents hover over their children, much like a helicopter over the ground, lawnmower parents make it their goal to pave the way to success for their child–just like a lawnmower cutting grass. They “mow down” any hardships or difficulties for their children, removing any obstacle in their path. Oftentimes, lawnmower parents are even more controlling and protective than helicopter parents.2
The third type, jackhammer parent, describes an even more aggressive type of parent. Jackhammer parents are characterized by their relentless and disruptive behavior, constantly hovering over their children, micromanaging their every move, and demanding special treatment from teachers and school administrators. Jackhammer parents take it to an extreme by constantly challenging teachers and administrators, arguing over grades, assignments, and disciplinary actions and demanding changes.3
Whether it is a helicopter parent, lawnmower parent, the even more destructive jackhammer parent, or any difficult parent, how can schools and teachers effectively deal with such aggressive parenting styles?
I believe there are several steps that can be taken to help mitigate these types of parent behaviors and concerns:
- First, and most importantly, pray for your parents and their children, both as a teacher and a school. One teacher I knew would sit at each of her students’ desks weekly and pray for them and their families.
- Hold beginning of the school year parent orientations.
- Keep parents informed of what is being taught in your school and classroom through:
- written curricula which the school has developed and made available for parents to access and view
- displaying books and materials being used in your classroom for parents to view at a parent orientation
- teachers outlining what will be taught during the school year in the various subjects
- sharing how students will be evaluated
- producing a classroom handbook with specific procedures for your class
- Encourage parents to contact you if any questions or concerns arise, and establish the method and times for doing so.
- Have emails or any other form of communication being sent to a parent previewed by a fellow teacher or administrator.
- Periodically contact parents with good news about their child.
- Send weekly or periodic classroom and school newsletters to inform parents of what has been covered and what will be covered in the various areas, along with any special projects, events, etc.
- Conduct parent-teacher conferences, both formal and informal.
- The school and administration set clear boundaries for parent interactions with teachers.
- Involve parents in some decision-making.
- Devote time to educate parents on issues related to their students and school.
- Establish an active parent-teacher organization in your school that invites parent participation in school life.
Transparency and consistency are key. Establishing open and regular communication with parents will help lessen many problems and can even turn difficult parents into supportive allies of your classroom and school!
