“Helicopter parents” who “hyperactively intervene” in the lives of their offspring could damage their children’s job prospects, a careers expert says.
Trend of ‘hovering’ over graduate children rising
Some even try to negotiate offspring’s salary
LONDON: “Helicopter parents” who “hyperactively intervene” in the lives of their offspring could damage their children’s job prospects, a careers expert says. Parents are increasingly involved in their children’s university and even career choices, Liverpool University’s head of careers and employability says.
Paul Redmond claims some parents even contact their sons’ or daughters’ employers to negotiate pay rises. This can backfire as most bosses want independent-minded workers, he added.
Redmond said “helicopter parents” who “hover” over their offspring intervening in their lives far more than in any previous generation were increasingly being seen on university campuses. “They’re much more involved in all aspects of their lives - they help them to get to university and even help them get jobs when they graduate.”
He added: “Employers are saying to me that parents are contacting them with regard to their sons’ or daughters’ careers. Some are even negotiating pay rises for them - it’s like having a footballer’s agent.”
“We have even had the phenomena of parents attending careers fairs around the country - and doing most of the talking on behalf of their son or daughter.”
He even identifies five types meddling parents with labels like the Agent, the Bodyguard and the Banker. “Helicopter parents” are so common among the middle classes that universities are now having to produce teams of family liaison officers to deal with them. And some are now even producing parent packs, he said. He said careers departments were now having to sit down with parents and tell them straight that, despite their best intentions, they could be doing more harm than good.
Students were often now tied to their parents by what is “surely the longest umbilical cord in history” — the
mobile phone. But perhaps surprisingly, Redmond says, the offspring of helicopter parents tend to be completely unabashed about their ever-increasing involvement in their affairs.
“It’s a generational thing, Generation Y — those born from the 1980s onwards — have a completely different
relationship with their parents to Generation X — those born in between the mid-1960s and the 1980s. Generation X would have been appalled at the idea.”
The extra involvement is also down to the marketisation of academia as a result of university fees, Redmond said. “They pay the money; they expect to see results.”
But helicopter parents are also a product of government policies encouraging increased parental involvement at school and college.
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