When it comes to parenting, do you hover over your kids? Do you manage their every moves, treat them like princes and princesses, throw lavish celebrations for their preschool graduations and plot every step they’ll take before they move off to the college of your choice? If so, well, then, you might just be a helicopter parent. And while it’s very nice of you to take good care of your children, hovering has a definite downside.

Mel Levine, a professor of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina Medical School in Chapel Hill, says all the coddling and protecting will threaten kids’ ability to survive on their own and form healthy relationships and proper job skills. Beverly Low, dean of the first-year class at Colgate University, says there was a day when parents dropped their kids at college and left. Now they call her and intervene all the time.

Not convinced hovering is a such a bad thing? Read more here and see if you change your mind.

Cartoon Photo by: BlogjamComic on flickr