Parlor Spider...Step In, Little Fly

Insightful thoughts and/or rants from atop the soapbox from one who wishes to share the "right" opinion with everyone.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

The Whirlybird Gets the Worm

It's a rare day that I fail to learn something. Just last week someone pointed out that stripes and checks don't really make an ensemble. Discoveries like this can be important. It seems our culture creates new jargon every week, but I just discovered a phrase which has obviously been around and to which I have been oblivious: the helicopter parent. The term seemed so odd that I just had to find out about it.
It seems that my generation, those born post-WWII and prior to 1960 or thereabouts ( I refuse to use the explosive word for this generation), has been known to coddle their children unnecessarily. In fact, it has gotten to the point that these parents show up at job fairs with their kids, write their resumes and call bosses about job performance reviews. SERIOUSLY! The helicopter parent hovers around the child and does everything imaginable for his/her progeny. Probably, they do this with the understanding that it probably wouldn't get done otherwise...like cleaning one's room or taking out the garbage!
That may explain why students can do so little for themselves: their parents have been doing it for years so there's no need to do anything for themselves. Parents calling athletic directors or coaches questioning why their child doesn't play is not a new phenomenon...pursuing a grade change so the GPA isn't harmed probably isn't new, either. I just never heard it called that. One parent who was the head of a booster club, conveniently forgot to have anything to do with a musical which I was directing one year when her daughter didn't get the part she felt was deserved.
OK, OK this is kid's stuff. Does it continue into adult life? Experts say that it does because parents see their children as lazy and want to give them a little "nudge" to find that job (and get out of the house, one might suppose).
I thought getting out on my own was the highlight of my life...now it seems that without helicopter parents, the next generation might be content to sit surrounded by electronica and wait for dinner.
Who makes the truck payment in that case?
It's been an enlightening day.

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