Jillian Brooks knows what a helicopter parent is. "They're parents who watch everything," she said.
Brooks, a chemistry major at the University of Minnesota, wasn't raised by helicopter parents, but many of her peers were.
"I have friends whose parents micromanage them," she said. "They think they're helping, but they make it difficult for their kids to figure things out on their own."
The term was first used in a 1969 manual about managing teenagers to describe a negative mode of overprotective parenting. In the past 15 years or so, the term became a part of the popular lexicon as an increasing number of moms and dads hovered around their children, managing their offspring's home, school and social environments.
But today, those who observe the subtle shifts in parenting styles say that the term is giving way to another aerial symbol.
"The analogy we hear is that today's parents are jet fighter parents," said Austyn Rask, a generational analyst at Wayzata-based Bridgeworks. "They keep their distance, swoop in for emergencies, then fly out."
The change in approach may be linked to demographics, as a massive group of younger Americans moves into prime parenting years.
"Millennials do not want to be helicopter parents," said Jack Mackinnon, who tracks family trends as a senior principal/analyst at Gartner. "They know they get tagged with the negative connotations for being parented like this, and have taken a lot of heat for being protected and guided.