Baron,

It's one thing to have difficulty because of that pesky thing called life getting in our way. I think at one point or another we all experience that. However, there are some people that simply don't belong in a plane for a variety of reasons. Some simply don't grasp it.

When I was a "new" instructor (I've only been doing it for a year, still learning new things every day) I had a commercial student who had been flying for a few years and had as many or more hours than I did tell me "I know how to fly, don't touch anything when I make a mistake unless it's going to kill us". Not realizing it, I was stepping in every time he made did something such as missing a checklist item. As a result, he was constantly missing these items. Since then I've done my best to just make a note of it or step in only when the situation dictates it.

If you feel your instructor is doing too much pampering as you put it, tell him to stop. He's not doing either of you any good. Once my student had this talk with me, I noticed a vast improvement in his progress as well as many of my other students who were at a point where I didn't need to "hold their hand" as much as a 3 hour student.