sigelphoenix

Interestingly enough, just as zinjadu has a discussion about women coddling men, I come across a Wall Street Journal article about parents coddling children: "Tucking the Kids In -- in the Dorm: Colleges Ward Off Overinvolved Parents." Someone at my (campus) job emailed it out to the office, because, well, this happens a lot. I can't tell you how many calls and emails I've gotten from parents asking "How do I get my daughter (or son) into the nursing school?" or "How do I make her into a nurse?" (My answer? "Don't go to informational meetings for her, don't choose her classes, don't find her volunteer experiences. Don't think that the top nursing school in the country is going to want to take on a student whose parents have been holding her hand the whole way. Hell, try having her grow a spine and speak up for herself! She's going to become a bloody health care professional. Why not let her do her own damn talking, because she's going to need a bit of autonomy when she's, you know, responsible for other people's lives." But with a little less of the "kill and kill and kill and die and kill omg.")

Anyway, I thought you guys would get a good laugh (or cringe) out of the examples they put in the article. Seriously, it gets a little scary. I mean, my parents are overly protective (don't get me wrong; they're great, but they do sometimes go overboard with the omg!worrying), but they aren't nearly this bad.

( The article )

Come on, people: let your kids do things on their own. Choose classes. Buy books. Meet people. Learn general functioning in a real-life setting. Because, much as it might sound nice if they don't ever ever ever make a mistake in their lives, that's kind of one of those things that'll bite them in the ass five years down the line.