Education in San Antonio

College administrators, many of whom are parents, know how tough parenting is. They fully realize how much parents worry about their children and how everybody wants the best for them.

However, just ask a college dean, faculty member, or residence hall director about his/her interactions with helicopter parents, and you will soon see how unwelcome they are on college campuses.

What is a so-called helicopter parent? Just remember that a helicopter can hover almost endlessly, and you have your answer. “Although college is the time when most parents, like it or not, ‘let go’ of their children”, says a dean at a southern university, “helicopter parents slow their kids’ growth by being unable or unwilling to do so, so everybody loses”.

Are you guilty of being a helicopter parent? Take this test. One affirmative answer means you probably are; two affirmative answers erases all doubt, and three positive responses means you have some real work to do.

1. On college visits, did you talk to students and staff more than your child did?

2. When your son or daughter is asked a question, do you sometimes answer?

3. Did you participate in filling out your child’s college applications?

4. Did you help write the admissions essay?

5. If your child tells you that his/her roommate is very difficult to live with, would you get involved?

6. If you are convinced that your child is being treated unfairly by an instructor, would you become involved?

7. Did you rule out a college within a 5-6 drive of your home because you thought it was too far away?

What have you learned about yourself? Do you think you need to make some changes so that your child will learn to be more self-reliant? There are almost never easy answers to parenting questions once a child has reached his/her late teens, but if we ask ourselves the right questions, and analyze our answers, we’ll have a much better chance of doing what is best for our children. Good luck.

Dr. Casper Poodel is very interested in online education of all kinds. His websites are on subjects including online schools, how to choose online colleges and the value of online degrees.