Abstract
The parenting style a person enjoys from their formative years to teenage and early adulthood has direct impacts on how such an individual deals with and responds to external interactions. This article looks at the impact of helicopter parenting on persons who eventually choose the path of legal education in Nigeria. Previous work done on helicopter parenting in other climes have shown that the impact of this parenting style is evident in the lack of independence of the individual in areas such as critical thinking and decision-making. This is more so an environment where the attention and intervention of parents are not easily accessible thereby making such individual less confident on such matters, in comparison with other individuals who had experienced more independence in their upbringing. The impact of this parenting style on legal education is exhibited in academic performance, mental health and influence in the career development of such individuals. This is reflected in the heavy dependence of such individuals on faster and easier ways of finding information to assist them in decision-making such as study patterns, co-existence with other students, living conditions, and ultimately, academic performance. This article interrogates these impacts in relation to legal education training in Nigeria. It also considers some mitigation strategies to balance the impact of helicopter parenting on individuals who choose a path in legal education. It finds that the helicopter parenting style is not an ideal parenting style for individuals who are approaching the path of life where they would need to go the rest of the way on their own and recommends a balanced approach to parenting.