Parents harming children’s ability to cope

“Helicopter parents” are affecting their children’s ability to cope with problems, according to the director of services at the ISPCC.

Caroline O’Sullivan said the vast majority of calls to the ISPCC’s Childline service were from “ordinary, everyday children” with high levels of anxiety and a lack of resilience when faced with issues in their lives.

The service receives between 1,000 and 1,200 contacts every day and the most recent ISPCC annual report, published in the summer, showed Childline received 422,000 calls in 2015.