Jabberwockey
Well-Known Member
Just saw SWOT use this term and have heard it off and on for years. Helicopter parents hover, worry, fuss, and enable. My parents both worked full time and not always on dayshift. My siblings and I learned at an early age that helping around the house was not optional, it was necessary. I've been able to cook, do laundry (at least in a male sort of way. dealing with delicates and shrinkables can still cause problems), and clean the house since I was 10 years old. Again, not optional. I mowed the lawn, helped in the garden in the summer (and with 7 kids that was a necessity as well!), did dishes, cooked, cleaned, and whatever else needed done around the house. I was cooking full meals, very basic but full meals none the less, and making sure my family members got fed. I lived in my happy little barely middle class mid-west country boy bubble.
I had a friend once tell me that I had lived a sheltered childhood. I cant argue that one bit, especially in light of the fact that he was raised in a SERIOUSLY dysfunctional family in the heart of St. Louis. He ended up eating a bullet instead of facing charges of child molestation. Yeah, thank God for a sheltered childhood! But he was basically helpless. Couldn't cook more than basic meals when he was in his mid 20's. He did laundry but even by male standards his sorting abilities were dubious at best. He rarely if ever cleaned his house. Granted, this could just have been severe laziness but who knows? When I went into the military, I lost track of how many times I had to teach someone how to use the washer and dryer on our floor. It was fairly funny the first time. I walked into the room, kind of like a break room but no tv, and started doing my laundry. There were several others in the room at the time playing cards. They ignored me at first until they realized I actually knew how to use those pieces of equipment that they had only ever seen operated by their mothers. It floored me.
Yes, I freely admit to being lazy! Just because I can do laundry doesn't mean I enjoy it but the fact of the matter is that it eventually MUST be dealt with. Well, you would think so anyway. Our son can go for months without ever doing a load of laundry, happily wearing the same pair of underwear for God only knows how many weeks at a time. Yes ladies, even I shudder and wretch a bit at that. While our son refuses to do laundry that's all it is, a refusal. We taught him how to properly do laundry. He has made the choice not to. And don't think that this is a rant against our son, I just had a thought start with the helicopter mom comment and this is a bit of a ramble.
I guess the point I'm trying to make is, How the hell can you send your sons and daughters out into the world without teaching them anything that they need to know? Why keep doing all these things for them but not showing them how to perform these tasks themselves? Sorry, I guess its the guy in me, not to mention the Marine, who says Raise, Train, Deploy, for this is the way of things. We raise our children and in the process train them the basics of how to not only survive in the world but to LIVE in it. Then, when the time is right, we deploy them out into said world. Granted, sometimes that has to be done a bit more forcefully than others but you get the point.
Again, I apologize for rambling a bit here but I had a thought started rambling about and had to purge it.
I had a friend once tell me that I had lived a sheltered childhood. I cant argue that one bit, especially in light of the fact that he was raised in a SERIOUSLY dysfunctional family in the heart of St. Louis. He ended up eating a bullet instead of facing charges of child molestation. Yeah, thank God for a sheltered childhood! But he was basically helpless. Couldn't cook more than basic meals when he was in his mid 20's. He did laundry but even by male standards his sorting abilities were dubious at best. He rarely if ever cleaned his house. Granted, this could just have been severe laziness but who knows? When I went into the military, I lost track of how many times I had to teach someone how to use the washer and dryer on our floor. It was fairly funny the first time. I walked into the room, kind of like a break room but no tv, and started doing my laundry. There were several others in the room at the time playing cards. They ignored me at first until they realized I actually knew how to use those pieces of equipment that they had only ever seen operated by their mothers. It floored me.
Yes, I freely admit to being lazy! Just because I can do laundry doesn't mean I enjoy it but the fact of the matter is that it eventually MUST be dealt with. Well, you would think so anyway. Our son can go for months without ever doing a load of laundry, happily wearing the same pair of underwear for God only knows how many weeks at a time. Yes ladies, even I shudder and wretch a bit at that. While our son refuses to do laundry that's all it is, a refusal. We taught him how to properly do laundry. He has made the choice not to. And don't think that this is a rant against our son, I just had a thought start with the helicopter mom comment and this is a bit of a ramble.
I guess the point I'm trying to make is, How the hell can you send your sons and daughters out into the world without teaching them anything that they need to know? Why keep doing all these things for them but not showing them how to perform these tasks themselves? Sorry, I guess its the guy in me, not to mention the Marine, who says Raise, Train, Deploy, for this is the way of things. We raise our children and in the process train them the basics of how to not only survive in the world but to LIVE in it. Then, when the time is right, we deploy them out into said world. Granted, sometimes that has to be done a bit more forcefully than others but you get the point.
Again, I apologize for rambling a bit here but I had a thought started rambling about and had to purge it.