Parental Advisory

I work in a position where I have the opportunity to interview many people for job openings that may exist in my department.  I have even hired some of those applicants that I have interviewed.  Every interview has been unique, but one in particular was extremely startling.

He approached me with his application and said he had an interview that morning.  My interview calendar was empty that morning so I asked him what he was interviewing for.  Without hesitation, he called his mom to find out who the interview was with and for what position.  Further questioning revealed that his mother filled out the application.  He was 33.

If you are familiar with "helicopter parenting", you have probably already made that connection.  For those unfamiliar with that term, it is a parenting style in which parents act as helicopters over their children.  They hover over them, rescuing them at every turn.  They interfere with every aspect of the child's life that the child fails to experience overcoming failure for themselves.

Helicopter parents have always existed, but there seems to be an epidemic with the current generation.  I observed it in high school, college, and now in the work place.  

My immediate thought after this experience was turned toward the long term effects that it has on the lives of those children.  In this case, a 33 year old had become so crippled from the damaging affects of dependency on his parents that he couldn't even fill out a job application.  Independence would have been much too overwhelming for him.

I wonder how many of these children, after being pushed out of the nest, turn to the easiest source of dependence outside of the home.  How many of them turn to the welfare system as their primary source of help?  Is it any wonder that they feel entitled to these programs?  

Once in a while, there comes a child that finds a way to overcome this.  I recently read about Aubrey Ireland, a college senior, who was granted a restraining order against her parents.  This article made me think about a story with much more historical significance.  

In 1776, the United States signed its own restraining order against England.  Think about all the "children", or dependent countries that Great Britain had control of at the time.  One of the children got fed up with it and did something about it.  

It is too bad that such a high percentage of victims of "helicopter parenting" fail to declare their own independence.  Perhaps if they had someone to depend on for their freedom, they would actually get it, someone like their parents.