Penn State President Graham B. Spanier offered some thoughts and opinions about this generation of college students last year. He also had some thoughts about parents.
In 2011, the first Baby Boomers will turn 65 (no need to raise your hands) and within 17 years, 70 million will follow suit. These baby boomers are the parents of today’s college students and they are more involved in their child’s college experience then ever before, so much so that some have nicknamed them “helicopter parents” because of their tendency to “hover over” their students.
I’m sure some of you have heard this terminology before since this phenomenon has gotten nearly as much publicity as the birth of Brad Pitt’s and Angelina Jolie’s child. Some schools, I’ve heard, have parent “bouncers” during orientation with the main goal of keeping parents separated from their kids. At Penn State, we forgive parents who designed their kid’s science fair project in grade school, made the Boy Scout pine box derby cars, and did all of the Girl Scout cookie selling — we just don’t want them to move into the residence halls.
A recent national survey found that three out of four college parents are in touch “two to three times a week” with their children, with more than one in three communicating on a daily basis.
I have no idea the implications for ministry. I’m sure there are many; I just haven’t thought it through.
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