I seem to be the only one here, but I hated the article. I thought that the examples were so over-the-top that it just lacked credibility to me. I have a dd who graduated from college last year and one graduating in a month, and I have NEVER heard examples like the ones that were given. I can't imagine a young adult interrupting a professor in the middle of class to hand him/her the phone to chat with mom, or a mom calling the college president to make sure her child wore a sweater. Ridiculous! One of my dds went to a small school and one went to a big10 university and good Lord, no parent could get right through to the president at either one.
Frankly, I'm pretty happy that things have changed since my parents smoked around us nonstop and didn't use seatbelts... happy that perhaps fewer kids are getting abused by a trusted adult because there are stricter guidelines in many organizations. And I'm thrilled that parents are sharing positive emotions and love that many of our older parents felt awkward doing.
The other stuff has always been an issue, and that's not about being risk averse, IMHO, it's about spoiling, and wanting to be your child's friend. My kids have never whined for a toy in the store (and the youngest is now 11) because it would never have been tolerated. We have always praised effort (but frankly, my kids are smart so I tell them that and say that this means they need to put the effort forth. They have no excuse except laziness for not doing well). I do expect them to join clubs, try sports, experience new things... and stick with them. I expect them to work hard and do chores (and no, not for money, ever). And my kids don't play their parents off of each other (my dh and I always present a united front and our rules are very straightforward). They don't cheat because, according to our dd graduating from college this year, "it was pure fear that you would kill me."
I see nuggets of truth in this article, but mostly I see an incredibly annoying, "oh, back in the day when life was good." Yes, there were good things about growing up in the 60s, 70s and 80s and there are good things about growing up now. But a lot of this helicopter parent drama seems a tad too conveniently urban myth. We're not like that, our kids and our kids' friends aren't like that, but we've heard about someone, somewhere, who is.
