Parental Control

Time is flying, I can’t believe I’ve been away for a week.  The writing frenzy yielded three new chapters to Julianne’s Wheels of Fire, a short story in the horror genre for a contest and the script for the upcoming Pottery Festival’s Queen’s pageant.  I even managed to squeeze in some gardening time and grandkids.  I am still flumoxed about how I managed to fit a day job into my life.   But all of that has nothing to do with what drove me to the blog today. 

I heard on the news recently about a school system that is permitting parents to log onto their teenager’s school and follow their every move.  Attendance, assignments, test grades all in real time.  At first glance, this seems like excellent, involved parenting doesn’t it?  But I must disagree.  To me, this is the equivalent of taking up the desk next to your kid for all 12 years of their early schooling, stealing from them the skills and habits necessary to be responsible adults.  Growth as a human being comes from messing up, taking responsibility, organizing ones own schedule. 

 The best parent I’ve met to date once told me that great parents do not do for their children anything they can do for themselves beginning in infancy.  What do you think?