The call came in at 8:15. A woman, sounding rushed, said she needed a high school transcript mailed to our state university. She added, “It must go out today.”
“When did you graduate?” I asked.
“Oh, it’s not for me,” she said. “It’s for my son. He graduated in 2004. How much will it cost?”
“Your son is an adult. 25. He has to call me.”
“Oh, but he can’t,” she said. “He’s in school all day. Community College. And then he has to go to work. He doesn’t have the time to call.”
And you, in your breathless I’m-late-for-work voice, obviously do have time. I wanted to say it, but didn’t. A school secretary learns to tread lightly with parents. Never know when one might be a friend with the superintendent, or maybe related to a board member.
“Please have him call me,” I said politely. Professionally. “As an adult, they are his records. He’ll need to make the request.”
She hung up in a huff, probably convinced that I felt it my duty to keep her son out of the University.
They’re called helicopter parents (click). They continue to figuratively walk their child to school, holding his or her hand, long after that child has left elementary school and graduated from high school. They hold on to the responsibility of parenting adult children, hovering, plucking up their daily burdens. Like requesting a high school transcript.
Why? What motivates them? Fear of their child’s failure? Of how it will reflect on them as parents? Whatever it is, they seem to be a growing phenomena.
Sad.
How would you handle such a parent? Would you deal with the parent, or insist on dealing with the former student directly?
