They say that humans are hard-wired to notice sudden changes but have difficulty noticing slow changes.
That said, this article on "helicopter parents" shocked me. Have we changed so much that this kind of parent-child relationship seems normal? 10 phone calls a week!?
100 years ago 13-year olds went to work in the factories to support their parents and siblings. These days it seems like kids never grow up.
Helicopter Parents Go to Work: Moms And Dads Are Now Hovering at the Office
16 March 2006
IN INTERVIEWS with a job candidate last year, Deborah D'Attilio, a recruiting manager in San Francisco for Enterprise Rent-A-Car, was surprised when the young woman brought a companion: Her dad.
Saying "he was interested in learning about the work environment," the father sat in the lobby during the interview, Ms. D'Attilio says. Ms. D'Attilio didn't hold it against the candidate and wound up hiring the young woman.
Helicopter parents are going to work. From Vanguard Group and St. Paul Travelers to General Electric and Boeing, managers are getting phone calls from parents asking them to hire their 20-something kids. Candidates are stalling on job offers to consult with their parents. Parents are calling hiring managers to protest pay packages and try to renegotiate, employers say.
"It's unbelievable to me that a parent of a 22-year-old is calling on their behalf," says Allison Keeton, director of college relations for St. Paul Travelers. After taking many calls from parents "telling us how great their children are, how great they'd be for a specific job," she's started calling this generation "the kamikaze parents -- the ones that already mowed down the guidance and admissions offices" and now are moving into the workplace.
General Electric made an offer to one recruit last fall, only to get a call the next day from the recruit's mother trying to negotiate an increase in pay, says Steve Canale, manager of recruiting and staffing services.
At Pella Corp., Christine Headington-Hall, strategic staffing manager of the Pella, Iowa, maker of windows and doors, has begun hearing from job candidates' parents too, trying to renegotiate an offer or asking why their child didn't get one.
And upon getting an offer at Vanguard Group, seven out of 10 college recruits say, "`Let me talk to my parents. I'll get back to you,'" says Karen Fox, college relations and recruiting manager.
In many ways, parents are continuing the intense oversight this generation has been known for all along: challenging poor grades, negotiating with coaches and helping kids register for college. Heavy cellphone and email contact with teens through college is fueling parent involvement beyond the normal breaking-away years; a study at Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vt., set for release at an August meeting of the American Psychological Association, found college freshmen are in contact with their parents more than 10 times a week.
