30 Times Kids Had Had Enough Of Helicopter Parents And Shared Screenshots Online (New Pics)

"I think parents often forget that they were once children themselves or perhaps they distinctly remember those times and that's why they are so set on micromanaging their children," Vicki Broadbent, the woman behind the family lifestyle blog Honest Mum and author of Mumboss (UK) and The Working Mom (US and Canada), told Bored Panda.

"It's normal to want to mollycoddle your kids and protect them but just as we did, they too, must learn from their mistakes. Our job as parents is to try and ensure the mistakes are not severe or potentially dangerous."

Broadbent said that everything starts with clear communication, guidance, and advice because sooner or later, "there will come a point when the kids must simply have to experience life and learn from it."

According to her, things like walking home from school on their own or staying away for a few nights will allow them to grow.

"Each child is an individual, of course, and what is right for one will not be for another: most will only learn independence through trial and error," Vicki Broadbent added.

"You as a parent must be there to cushion their falls but most children will and should experience adversity in some way in order to learn, be it friendship woes or falling off their bike."

"It is in those times that they learn more about themselves, how best to respond to problems as they arise, and over time, therein lies growth, resilience, and maturity," the mother of three explained.

Naturally, these things take time and preparation. "When it came to my own children and they requested walking home from school or taking public transport, for example, I made it clear that they needed to demonstrate more maturity at home to earn greater independence," Broadbent said.

"That meant sticking to chores, remembering school items, becoming more proactive in cooking and cleaning, preparing for tests, and just practicing more autonomous behavior in general," she explained.

"Once they proved themselves to me, taking slow steps to improve over long periods of time, they were allowed more freedom."

If everything works out well, that's when the snowball effect starts. "Once they walked home safely the first few times, they were allowed to do it more frequently," Broadbent said. "It's important to show your children that you do trust them and allow them to live up to that expectation."

"If they fail, you regroup, talk to them calmly, problem-solve and once they've proved themself again, give them another chance. Using apps to track their location when you do allow them that space, will provide you with peace of mind, as would offering them a phone perhaps."

The frustration of the people who made these posts is understandable. Researchers from the University of Virginia discovered that teens who grew up with psychologically controlling parents struggle with relationships and educational achievements even as adults.

"What we found was that kids who had parents who displayed more overcontrolling behavior tended to struggle in tasks that require assertiveness and independence and autonomy throughout development," said Emily Loeb, a postdoctoral researcher who was the lead author of the study.

"So by the time the kids were adults, they were in romantic relationships where there wasn't as much support being given. By 32, they achieved less education relative to those who had less psychological control, and they were less likely to be in a romantic relationship at all by age 32."

The results come from a longitudinal study involving 184 young people from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds, tracking them from ages 13 to 32.

The study took into account family income, gender (about half the group was male and half female), and a person's grade-point average at the age of 13.

Loeb's team also measured the participants' psychosocial maturity to discern how well they take into account others' perspectives and think about social situations in a nuanced way.

"We asked people at their schools to rate how much they would want to spend a Saturday night with this particular person," Loeb said.

"We gathered all the readings, and that was a measure of what we call 'sociometric popularity' – so, 'How much do kids just like them and want to spend time with them?'"

The researchers also asked the 13-year-olds about various symptoms of depression.

The researchers filmed the study participants with their closest friends at 13 and had them ask their friends for some support or advice on an issue and studied their meeting.

"We coded the interaction for the amount of support shown [during it]," Loeb said.

The team replicated this scenario with romantic partners when the study participants were 27 years old and again when they were 32.

“We found [problems were going] on in mid-adolescence that helped explain that they were less liked by their peers," Loeb explained. “So fewer people said, 'Yeah, I'd like to spend time with them on a Saturday night.' And they were less mature in terms of balancing perspective and thinking about things in a nuanced way."

Loeb believes these findings are important because people – be they clinicians, parents, or educators – are always seeking the right balance when trying to guide children.

"[I'm] not saying you can’t have rules," Loeb added, "but it’s very important that parents do let kids think for themselves and let them express opinions that are different than [their own]."

While the examples shown in the pictures are extreme, it's clear that independence in our early life makes for a healthier adulthood.