The text in the middle of class, the phone call as soon as the final bell rings, and the brown paper bag with a special note inside. While going into college can be complicated and an experienced eye is always helpful, constant text messages, weekly parent Skype calls, and mailed laundry are doing more harm than good for most college freshmen.

As these young adults face the next stage of life, the choices and responsibilities that in the past have fallen on the parents now plummet onto the students. The parents of those who were pushed, poked, and prodded into “success” are now discovering that their kids know very little about how independent life works.

Failure is hard to swallow, but its something all humans must go through. These failures are commonly called “lessons.” While a mother’s actions are intended to reduce suffering for her child, the child’s failure leads to a learning experience that will benefit them later in life.

According to research done by the Washington Post and Forbes Magazine, almost sixty percent of college grads returned home. One reason for this return could be the lack of early personal growth. With a helicopter parent’s strong influence, a child has no room for failure and cannot experience how to learn. Going into college, this lack of personal growth develops into problems with criticism and problem solving.

Without the lessons learned from little parent involvement, the culture shock of college can render students incapable of being an active community member or effective student. Although helicopter parents mean well, their intrusion’s can lead to a life of failure for their child.