I first heard of the term "helicopter parent" a few years ago when attending an open house at the University of Waterloo with my two oldest. During one of the sessions, the student speaker used the term to sneer at those parents she described as being "over-involved" in their children's education.

The term "helicopter parent" isn't reserved strictly for parents with children in university. Parents of younger students can be accused of "hovering" too close by, as well. But there seems to be a special level of contempt for those parents who dare to try and "meddle" in their older children's academic life.

So what's the potential fall-out and damage to university students with those kinds of parents? You know, the ones who are constantly intervening on their child's behalf, frequently contacting them by phone or e-mail?

According to the National Survey of Student Engagement, chances are, those students are doing extremely well in school. Better than their peers, in fact. (The survey looks at how much participating universities and colleges in the U.S. and Canada are encouraging activities shown to improve learning.)

Apparently there are tons of educational benefits to having helicopter parents. Compared with their peers, these students report greater educational gains, higher satisfaction, and, according to the survey, are engaged more frequently in many areas, including "deep learning activities," such as after-class discussions with professors and independent research.

This seems to completely contradict the popular notion that helicopter parents are control freaks who won't let go of their children, denying them their independence and freedom. Instead of finally acknowledging that their child is actually now an adult, they micro-manage every aspect of their life. Heck, if the kid makes it through school with good marks and has lots of friends, it's despite their control-freak parents. Unless they manage to rebel and break free of their parents, they'll never learn the meaning of responsibility and independence. According to popular belief, if they really wanted to do what's in their kids' best interest, helicopter parents should just back off.

Uh, except they shouldn't. At least, according to what the Washington Post calls "one of the nation's most respected college surveys."

Helicopter parents are actually doing their kids a favour by hovering close by.

My two oldest are headed into their third year of university. I've never met with their professors. When either of them have mentioned something like an unfair mark, I don't make any angry phone calls. I don't try to micro-manage their study habits, or call the student loans office on their behalf, either. But that doesn't mean I don't want to continue a close and supportive relationship with them.

When we ask our children - including those in university - about their marks or course selection choices, ask them what their plans are for graduate school, or express concern about their study habits, we're not "hovering." We're being parents. And, according to the National Survey of Student Engagement, our kids should be thanking us for it.

Don't break any school rules - even when you're at home - because your teachers might be watching. Yes, spying on you, even in your own bedroom.

According to an article from PC World, after remotely activating a MacBook webcam, a Philadelphia-area school district took photographs of a student who was "engaging in improper behavior at home."

Yes, that's right. Improper behaviour "at home." As in, the school was actually spying on the high-school student in his own house.

The MacBooks were distributed as part of a school project, involving all 2,300 students in the school district. The webcams could be activated without the students' knowledge, supposedly as a "theft-prevention measure." The student in question was approached by a high-school official, who showed him the photographic evidence of his "improper behaviour."

Now the school board has a class-action lawsuit on its hands, which, according to the article from PC World, could even become a case of child pornography if the photographs turn out to be of a sexual nature.

In their lawsuit against the school board, the parents claim that "the indiscriminate remote activation of the webcams incorporated into each laptop was accomplished without the knowledge or consent of the Plaintiffs or the members of the class." Pretty scary stuff.

I can't imagine any of my own children's schools doing anything so sneaky and underhanded. The thought of anyone being able to secretly listen in and even watch as one of my kids hang out in their bedrooms is a very disturbing one. My kids have been lucky, I guess. None of their teachers or school principals are hypocrites, holding their students up to a higher standard of ethical behaviour than they do for themselves.

After acknowledging the fact that schools could use the Mac books' webcams as little spy cameras, the superintendent of the school district didn't offer any horrified apologies. Instead, he announced that the school board regrets "if this situation has caused any concern or inconvenience among our students and families."

Inconvenience? I wonder how he'd feel if some of the students in his district had been secretly spying on his bedroom? And then released pictures of anything they deemed to be "improper behaviour"?

The same thing should happen to the school officials involved in this shocking invasion of their students' privacy as would happen to those kids if they dared pulling a similar stunt. Yes, they should all be arrested and charged.

The mother of a nine-year-old is suing her local school board for what she says is the board's failure to protect her son from bullies. The Kitchener, Ont., mom says the Waterloo Region Catholic School Board hasn't done enough to stop the bullies who repeatedly harassed her son, giving him fat lips, bruises, and stab wounds from a pencil.

According to an article in The Record, Kitchener's daily newspaper, the attacks started in September, 2008. The mother was quoted as claiming bullying to be a widespread problem in her son's school, and accused the principal, school trustees and superintendents of not taking her concerns seriously. She says she has written dozens of letters, and even tried working it out with the parents of the kids who were bullying her son. But now her son wants to be home schooled.

The boy and his mother are not being named to protect his identity.

In what the article described as a possible first of its kind in Ontario, the mother is suing the school board and Region of Waterloo both for $25,000 in damages, the maximum allowed in small claims court.

A spokesperson for the school board said this is the first time the region has been taken to court over its anti-bullying program, and an investigation will look into the case to see if the rules were followed when it comes to complaints about bullying.

The school board and region can't respond directly to the allegations made by the mother because it is before the courts, according to the article. The board has filed a statement of defence.

This is going to be an interesting case to follow. Earlier this month, Ontario became the first province in Canada to require all school staff to report any serious incidents of bullying to the principal. As part of the 'Keeping Our Kids Safe at School Act,' school principals are now also required to contact the parents of the victims of bullies, another first in Canada.

But what good is this legislation if nothing happens as a result? The government claims on its website that this new legislation will "make schools safer" and help students "achieve their full potential."

But for at least one nine-year-old in the province, school doesn't sound like such a safe place right now. Nor a place he can achieve his full potential. So in what seems like a very un-Canadian move, his mom has decided to sue. Let's see what happens next.

(You may also be interested in the story of two Winnipeg moms with bullied children, and another story about an Ottawa situation. )