Word.ws English Dictionary

snowplow parent

snowplow parent noun: a parent who intervenes to prevent their child from facing obstacles and difficulties.

Noun

snowplow parent (plural snowplow parents)

  1. (US, derogatory) A parent who intervenes to prevent their child from facing obstacles and difficulties.
    • Both helicopter and snowplow parents are raising children to believe they have few faults and will always be successful.2011, Daniel McLean, Amy Hurd, Kraus' Recreation and Leisure in Modern Society, →ISBN, page 150
    • In A Nation of Wimps, Hara Marano observes that even the “Helicopter Parent” has become passé, having been replaced by the “Snowplow Parent.”2014, Malcolm Gauld, College Success Guaranteed 2.0: 5 Rules for Parents, →ISBN, page 83
    Synonyms:
    curling parent

Examples of snowplow parent in a sentence

  • When schools protect children from low marks they are acting as "snowplow" schools, just as parents can be snowplow parents by shoving adversity out of the child's path so they can have a happy life.2018, Judy L Arnall, Unschooling To University, →ISBN, page 125:
  • Learn ways to avoid being a competitive or snowplow parent.2019, Julie Fisher, The Resiliency Puzzle: The Key to Raising Resilient Kids, →ISBN, page 22:

Synonyms of snowplow parent

Forms of snowplow parent

pluralsnowplow parents
alternative UKsnowplough parent

Origin of snowplow parent

For their insistence on removing all obstacles in their children's paths.

Questions about snowplow parent

What does snowplow parent mean?
Snowplow parent means a parent who intervenes to prevent their child from facing obstacles and difficulties.
How do you use snowplow parent in a sentence?
When schools protect children from low marks they are acting as "snowplow" schools, just as parents can be snowplow parents by shoving adversity out of the child's path so they can have a happy life.
What part of speech is snowplow parent?
Snowplow parent is a noun.
What is the plural of snowplow parent?
The plural of snowplow parent is snowplow parents.

Words near snowplow parent in the dictionary

  1. snowplough parents
  2. snowploughed
  3. snowploughing
  4. snowploughs
  5. snowplow
  6. snowplow parent
  7. snowplow parenting
  8. snowplow parents
  9. snowplowed
  10. snowplowing
  11. snowplows

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: snowplow parent (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “snowplow parent.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/snowplow_parent. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.