“Not like that! Give it to me, I’ll do it.”

“Not today, you have a lesson at 5:30pm.”

“Lunch is in your bag and your bottle is in the side pocket.”

Have you ever said similar things to your children before? You can hardly be blamed for it, considering the stresses of life and the pressure to keep up with today’s social norms which seem, to many of us, to be a lot more complicated than in the past.

I remember myself as a child being left to play on my own or with friends. We had to invent games, make things, role play and so many other activities where, without even realising, I developed many skills that assist me to this day. Of course, there is a place for structure and discipline, but I feel societal pressure is causing many parents to push well beyond a balance, essentially micro-managing every aspect of their children’s lives.

“Helicopter parenting” is not an uncommon parenting style these days. My fear is that if we don’t pro-actively educate parents about the effects of helicopter parenting, it will have a negative impact on our future workforce. Indeed, “the helicopter effect”, as I like to refer to it, is potentially damaging the development of maturity, individuality and creativity which are the essential characteristics of good workers.

It goes without saying that most parents want the very best for their children. However, this love and desire for their children to succeed causes many parents to become over-protective and “over-the-top” in almost every aspect of their child’s life. These are the parents who will do whatever it takes to prevent their child from failing or being emotionally disappointed. They’re “always on alert,” “blocking the shots,” and “breaking the fall.” As much as I don’t like to admit it, I’m also guilty of having displayed this type of behaviour. You really begin to see the effects of this when your children mature in age and display signs, such as an inability to be independent to an expected level, or when their expectations of us as parents exceed what should be considered “reasonable”, hence the term “the entitled generation.

” It’s important to understand the key characteristics employers are looking for when hiring staff. They don’t always focus on HSC or university marks. Rather, they look for other skills such as maturity, creativity, communication, analytical thinking, self-management and resilience. If you reflect on this for a minute, it becomes obvious that these key skills are learnt through life. These skills can’t be taught from a textbook, can’t really be “done for you” and, most importantly, cannot be learnt without failing, because failing in life is what teaches us the most valuable lessons.

There are ways we can help develop maturity, independence and creativity in the younger generation. For example, buy simple blocks of Lego instead of the commercialised ones. Let them come up with their own creations and develop the skill of creativity. Let them pull toys apart and put them back together again. And let them plan their own games and parties as it inspires the development of analytical thinking and planning skills.

It’s fine to support and give advice, but be careful not to always “rescue them” or “fight their battles” which may result in difficulty dealing with issues themselves. They may get it wrong, but again, it’s the best way to learn. Let them do as much as they can for themselves, and don’t be overly concerned if they’re doing it wrong. Rather, we should provide support and guidance as they go through their failures. What’s important is that they’re doing it for themselves and learning valuable lessons along the way.

At a time when our workforce is transitioning, with more Baby Boomers retiring and Generation Y embedding themselves into senior positions, it is important to consider that our next generation (Generation Z) and beyond, should be supported but not served, shown but not prevented, guided but not driven. I strongly believe that it is the responsibility of modern-day parents to nurture our next generation of workers to ensure a strong, creative and efficient Australian workforce for the future.