Snow Plow Parenting

by Sandra Hannigan (Instructional Technologist)

On my way into work today I listened to a commentary on this topic and it inspired me to write about it…

Tiger Moms, Helicopter Parents……move over! There’s a new kind of parent on the block – the “Snow Plow” parent. Yes, just as you might be thinking, snow plow parents are here to “push” all of their children’s problems out of the way in order to create a clear path for their road ahead. They want to remove every obstacle that may come in their child’s way. Snow plowers will do ANYTHING to ensure that their children aren’t failures….whether it be school grades, sports, acting, etc. (Does the recent college admission scandal come to mind? Or, do you remember the cheerleader’s mom who tried to have her daughter’s rival killed?)

BUT, this snow plowing behavior doesn’t only apply to elementary or high school students. Oh no…..! There are signs of snow plow tendencies even in parents of college students. In a recent poll conducted by the New York Times, 11% of parents of adult children would contact their child’s boss if the son or daughter had an issue at work. (Really????!!!!) Other eye-opening findings included: 15% of parents with children in college texted or called them to wake up so they didn’t sleep through a class or test. 74% of parents made appointments for their adult children, including doctor’s appointments.

Finally….and I have witnessed this and maybe you have too….Parents have even called our office to try to have their college student’s grade changed! Growing up means making mistakes and learning how to come back from them. Right? We need to allow our younger children to become adults and our adult children to learn how to cope with life. A little failure along the way will make one stronger…we can’t all be number one all of the time.

In my opinion, snow plows are for snow removal and nothing more!