Are we helping or hurting our kids with helicopter parenting? Discuss with reference to parenting styles, and how helicopter parenting might impact on a child’s cognitive, emotional and social development.

3. Middle Childhood: Nine-year-old Jenny

Decision 2: Test at School

Jenny has an important test coming up at school, and is given some practice examples for

homework. When she gets home she decides that she would rather play instead. Jenny’s mother

becomes concerned that Jenny won’t perform well on the test and ‘bribes’ Jenny to do her

homework. She then sits with Jenny and works through the practice exercises with her.

Research Essay Question : Are we helping or hurting our kids with helicopter parenting?

Discuss with reference to parenting styles, and how helicopter parenting might impact on a

child’s cognitive, emotional and social development.

Consider the following articles that can be found on Google Scholar :

LeMoyne, T., & Buchanan, T. (2011). Does ‘hovering’ matter? Helicopter parenting and its

effects on well-being. Sociological Spectrum, 31, 399-418.

Odenweller, K. G., Booth-Butterfield, M., & Weber, K. (2014). Investigating helicopter

parenting, family environments, and relational outcomes for millennials. Communication

Studies, 65, 407-425.

Kohler, M., Aldridge, J., Christensen, L. M., & Kilgo, J. (2012). Issues in Education: Tiger

Moms: Five Questions That Need to be Answered: James D. Kirylo, Editor. Childhood

Education, 88(1), 52-53.

(see also the variety of Tiger Mom articles on New York Times online)

Research Essay Tips

 This is an essay, so remember to structure it like one, with an introduction,

main body and conclusion. You may use sub-headings if it helps with structure.

 Use full sentences and APA style referencing.

 Assignments should be formatting following the conventions of the Publication

Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA) 7 thedition. Guidelines

on using APA style can be obtained from the following sources: Murdoch Library

website: http://libguides.murdoch.edu.au/APA

 Elaborate and discuss research findings relevant to the issue.

 Use topic sentences and at the end of a paragraph or main argument, anchor it

back to your point - keep asking yourself the ‘so what’ question – why do you

want your reader to know this, why is it relevant?

 Do not use dot points in your essay.

 Use objective language. Avoid colloquial and emotional language, and personal

judgement or opinion.

 Integrating research findings with your main points is an important part of this

essay. Use findings from relevant research literature to support your arguments.

Show that you can compare and contrast relevant research to arrive at a sound

conclusion.

Research Essay Penalties to watch out for

There must be at least 5 journal articles cited in the essay. Information presented must be

evidence-based, using peer-reviewed journal articles (not personal judgement, ‘internet facts’ or

opinion). Leave enough time to check that you have done your in-text citations and references.

Failure to do this will result in a capped mark of 50%.

There is a 1500-word limit on this assignment. If your assignment exceeds this word limit,

once the limit is reached, reading will stop. The section within the word limit will be marked as

if it is the complete assignment. NO leeway will be given above this limit. The word count

INCLUDES all words from the initial word of your essay to its final word, but it EXCLUDES

the title, abstract (optional) and reference list. The computer word processing package that you

use for producing your assignments will have a word count function for checking the length of

your assignment. In-text citations also count as words.