All Helicopter Parents Please Report to the Flight Deck, Your Children Have Never Learned to Function without You!
I recently attended my daughters first day at college. The president of the university gave a welcoming speech, advising us that our " children " were now college freshman and they will be completely on their own now, the apron strings have been cut. He then said that they will have a reality check about college academic life starting October 22 with their first mid terms. The mother next to me wrote this date down. She then took some other notes, and proceeded to review these notes with her daughter after the president spoke. When does it end? When do the students start to do their work on their own? I have seen the parents of my children’s friends do all their homework with them night after night, through the end of high school. I have personally known parents that will read every book their children are assigner so they can " help them " with the term paper. Help them? They write it for them! These grammar school students are handing in college level essays about books, and nobody thinks the teachers know. Of course they do, but what are their options? Fail the kids who get extra help at home? Their parents would be in an uproar.
When I was kid, my parents stopped helping me with my home work in about the fifth grade. Their help had grdually become more like " Do you want me to test you? " If I had a test tomorrow, or " I can drive you to the library to look that up". Today’s parents do not draw the line they should when they give their children homework help. Many do the homework for them, correct it so its perfect, do extensive research on the Internet, even work on projects while the kids are in school! My son saw a mother on line outside the high school college admissions office one morning last week handing in college applications. It made me wonder, who filled put their applications and wrote the essays? I don’t have to wonder, I know, I just hope they tell the student which college Mommy got them accepted to.
We all want our children to do well in school, succeed in life, but helping them has gotten out of hand. At some point these kids are going to be on their own, and it will be a rude awakening for some. I hope the parents are always there to pick them up when they fail. Remember, butterflies need to be strong enough to break out of the cocoon, or they won’t be able to fly. These kids need their mental muscles exercised before its too late. Its usually SAT day - no parents allowed!
whereIstand Tags
November 17th, 2007 at 12:12 pm
Hey Boo. Great post. I enjoyed it even though I don’t have kids. I remember my college days however.