A number of years ago, we sent our daughter to a two-week summer language camp in northern Minnesota. The first contact that we had with her after she left was not until the parent-child event on the last day of the program – which was part of the deal. While she thought we had banished her to Siberia, and while she complained about the absence of TV and not being able to use her hair dryer (NB there were no cell phones in those days otherwise that would have been part of her rant!), she is still in contact with some of the campers some twenty years later and is among one of the most independent and self-reliant thirty-somethings I know.
Then this article appears today in the NY TImes – “Dear Parents: Relax, It’s Just Camp”. MSNBC coined the term “helicopter parents” about eighteen months ago. These are parents who “hover” over their children’s every move. They call the school constantly to check on their kids, confront teachers if their child did not get an “A”, and show up at job interviews to negotiate compensation packages for their budding executive. Now we have these upper income parents – who obviously don’t have enough to do – calling residential summer camps multiple times a day to check on their child.
Here is what is wrong with this picture, as noted in a comment to “Another Frustrated Boomer”, the behavior of these helicopter parents is contributing mightily to producing a generation of self-absorbed people who cannot function or think independently, and who lack discipline. The NY Times article talks of parents who give their camper-children TWO cell phones (the use of which happens to be banned at these exclusive camps) and tell their kids “if they take away the first one you still have a back up to call me every day”. So we have parents who are condoning rule breaking and then we are surprised when this generation grows up, enters the work force, and ignores the policies and procedures that a company puts in place. Something is very wrong with this picture. How much of this ludicrous behavior are we willing to tolerate?