Helicopter Mommies

So, I've been labeled. I'm a "Helicopter" Mom. On the Dr. Phil show yesterday it was all about parenting styles, and thus how I got my label.

Apparently, there are lots of different "labels", and I'll go over them later but what bothered me about the whole thing was how because Dr. Phil was a "Free Range" parent he kind of laughed at the "Helicopter" parents. I was, until yesterday, a HUGE fan of the Dr. Phil show. But to be honest, it was  kind of like one of my really good friends making fun of me. So I'm still a little bitter. So here are the style/ labels.

"Helicopter" - Parents that are extremely involved in their children's lives. Drive them to and from places. Don't generally let children go unsupervised.

Quiz - Are you a Helicopter Parent?

"Free-Range" - Parents that let their children make decisions. Parents that trust their children to be alone or go places alone.

I think this is total BS. I don't need to be analyzed and laughed at. I'm a good mom. My kids are happy and healthy. They make decisions. I mean, they may not be "huge" decisions, but they're decisions none the less. My son is 4 years old and he knows that strangers are not his friends. Don't talk to strangers (other than kids his age) unless mommy says it's okay. He knows what to do if someone asks him to get in the car. He knows what he should do if someone grabs him. When we go to heavily populated places I make sure he has my phone number on him somewhere.

I don't really care what anyone else things about me and my parenting style. They didn't get me knocked up and as for my husband, who did get me knocked up.....he knows not to mess with me when it comes to the safety of my children. The way I look at it is, the parents who's children have been kidnapped, molested, murdered or all three, probably wish they would have done things differently. If I always assume it can happen to us and I'm always prepared for it to happen and my kids are always prepared for it to happen, don't we have a better chance of surviving it if it were to happen to us?

My kids are my life and I love them more than my own. I would do anything to make sure they are safe and this includes breaking off my relationship/addiction with the Dr. Phil show.