Parents, imagine you have a meeting scheduled with a co-worker and receive a call from the colleague’s parent requesting that the meeting be rescheduled to allow their (grown) child to fulfill a conflicting commitment.
Or what if you were a manger and received a call from the parent of one of your direct reports wanting to speak with you about their kid’s performance and how to improve it?
What if the colleague who was assigned to work with you on your latest project ended up doing so because their parent called to advocate for the opportunity on their kid’s behalf?
How would it affect the way you view this person? How would it impact your work together moving forward? Would it increase or decrease the level of respect and trust?
These scenarios likely sound ridiculous (though, perhaps surprisingly, they do occur). But what steps are you taking to ensure that your own child doesn’t grow up to expect the same level of parental involvement from you?
Self-sufficiency is a process, not an overnight transformation. But a process is always a series of steps designed to achieve a particular goal. And it’s worth taking a moment to occasionally check the progress, both yours and your student’s.