“Courts Reward Helicopter Parents, Two Law Profs Say”

Paging Lenore Skenazy! “Courts are rewarding ‘intensive parenting’ and making it a legal standard, particularly in custody disputes, two law professors say in a paper that will be published in the U.C. Davis Law Review.” Gaia Bernstein (Seton Hall) and Zvi Triger (College of Management School of Law, Israel) say custody law rewards parents for greater involvement in their kids’ lives even if it amounts to over-involvement. “In tort cases, courts are narrowing or eliminating the parental immunity doctrine and creating the potential for judgments against parents for inadequate parental supervision.” [ABA Journal, “Over-Parenting” on SSRN; Prawfsblawg]

3 Comments

  • […] (Oh and if you’re wondering why we young lawyers are such entitled weenies: like everything else, it’s probably the legal system’s fault in the first place. See Walter Olson’s post on Overlawyered entitled “Courts Reward Helicopter Parents.”) […]

  • The state, including courts, has to act in the best interest of the child. Sounds good, but how can a system that had the horrible day-care center cases and repressed memory cases be trusted to determine the best interest of a child?

    We should return to the rule that gave custody to the mother unless she was grossly incompetent.

  • […] “Courts Reward Helicopter Parents, Two Law Profs Say”. […]