"You have a generation of parents who have devoted themselves - in nonproductive ways - to create the perfect child," Johnson said. "It is the trophy child syndrome."
Johnson, founder and former director of the Parents' Program at Cornell University, has studied so-called helicopter parenting. Her research showed that this type of behavior started to appear on college campuses in the late 1980s, when the children of the baby-boomer generation arrived.
"There was an emphasis on the importance of babies; local and state governments were focusing on child health," Johnson said. "Late boomers were beginning to see the importance of nurturing and educating babies."
`A huge problem'
By the 1990s, helicopter parenting was in full swing. College admissions offices began to complain that parents insisted on sitting in on their child's admission interview. Some admissions officials began to suspect that parents of prospective students wrote their essays, said Johnson, co-author of Don't Tell Me What To Do, Just Send Money: The Essential Parenting Guide to the College Years.
"It has escalated," Johnson said. "It's a huge, huge problem for colleges and universities. It doesn't start at the college level - it starts in utero for some of these parents."
Cynthia North, a special education teacher at Parkville Middle School, said she knows well what it's like to deal with difficult parents. In addition to being threatened by the boxer parent, North encountered a disgruntled mother who took a complaint about her son's math project all the way to a congressman.
"They have a tendency to think that their child is the only child in your classroom," said North, whose 34 years of teaching includes stints in Alabama and Tennessee.
`A prime target'
In Carroll County, parents of children with special needs are among the worst offenders, said Barry Potts, president of the Carroll County Education Association, which represents more than 2,200 teachers, guidance counselors and registered nurses.
"A teacher is a pretty prime target when the child is not meeting their potential," Potts said.
Potts recounted the incident of the grandmother who was told to stop visiting her grandchild's elementary school.
"We don't tolerate that," Potts said. "It is disruptive to the teacher and the student."
