Parents who hover over kids at college

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is anyone else ever shocked at what parents will ask on college family pages on Facebook? I see posts like "Where can my kid find quarters on campus to do laundry?" Or "what should my kid do if they lost their ID?" Or "does my kid need to tell someone if they go home for the weekend?"

I see posts like this on a daily basis for my kid's university (large public flagship) and while, sure, it's possible some of them need extra help, I can't help but wonder how these kids are going to succeed in life. What is with all these hovering parents???

If you truly were better than you wouldn't need to be on "college family pages on Facebook" would you? Why does such a thing exist?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is anyone else ever shocked at what parents will ask on college family pages on Facebook? I see posts like "Where can my kid find quarters on campus to do laundry?" Or "what should my kid do if they lost their ID?" Or "does my kid need to tell someone if they go home for the weekend?"

I see posts like this on a daily basis for my kid's university (large public flagship) and while, sure, it's possible some of them need extra help, I can't help but wonder how these kids are going to succeed in life. What is with all these hovering parents???

What’s a quarter?

-Every college kid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is anyone else ever shocked at what parents will ask on college family pages on Facebook? I see posts like "Where can my kid find quarters on campus to do laundry?" Or "what should my kid do if they lost their ID?" Or "does my kid need to tell someone if they go home for the weekend?"

I see posts like this on a daily basis for my kid's university (large public flagship) and while, sure, it's possible some of them need extra help, I can't help but wonder how these kids are going to succeed in life. What is with all these hovering parents???

What’s a quarter?

-Every college kid

Laundry apps have existed since at least 2014 when my eldest was a freshman living in a dorm!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What makes me sad is how many parents are saying their kids are having trouble making friends and other parents offering to have the kids get together. Also big flagship. Maybe not a great choice of school. But watching it all play out publicly on facebook is really tough.

It's hard to make friends when everyone is staring at their phone.

I don't think hanging out in the dorm and meeting kids the old fashioned way has died. All the girls I know are meeting plenty of kids.

I agree.

My daughter has (what seems like) a nice group of girls from her floor who she has been hanging out with, going to dinner with, etc. And she's not particularly outgoing.

[Anonymous]

I had to leave the parent FB page too. It was just much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think the kids themselves aren’t able to be resourceful. The parents just think they are idiots and need to solve every issue for them. By the time they get back to them on where the quarters are the kids will have already figured it out.

Kids sometimes don’t say what they mean. My kid will say they don’t know how to do x, but they are not really asking for help. They are thinking out loud or venting or maybe it means they are scared.

Some of those parents are jumping in when they probably have not been asked to do so just because their kid is bringing up quotidian topics like, “Idk where to get quarters.”

+1 My kid says stuff like this to me, and I just say to DC to ask someone, like the RA, or google it on their college page.

I have asked one thing related to credits for incoming freshman because DC had reached out to their advisor but didn't get a response. Sometimes the parent FB can be really helpful. I just ignore the rest.

ITA, that the "my kid is lonely" posts are the hardest. I think it's ok for parents to seek advice regarding that because so many kids have gone through it with their parents as bystanders. A parent mentioned some organization that had an app for a meet up that I thought was a great idea. Sometimes I find things out from that FB that I text my DC about, and it turns out that they didn't know about it but was glad that they found out.

There's so much going on for them, especially freshman year.

DC is now a sophomore, living off campus with some friends. I gave them this semester's worth of funds and told them to manage it, paying rent, utilities, groceries, etc.. DC is pretty responsible most of the time.

My younger DC, oth... I could see myself having to hold their hand more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is anyone else ever shocked at what parents will ask on college family pages on Facebook? I see posts like "Where can my kid find quarters on campus to do laundry?" Or "what should my kid do if they lost their ID?" Or "does my kid need to tell someone if they go home for the weekend?"

I see posts like this on a daily basis for my kid's university (large public flagship) and while, sure, it's possible some of them need extra help, I can't help but wonder how these kids are going to succeed in life. What is with all these hovering parents???

What’s a quarter?

-Every college kid

Laundry apps have existed since at least 2014 when my eldest was a freshman living in a dorm!

Even in the 90s we loaded money on our account and used our ID as a payment card. All those quarters people gave me for graduation got deposited into my bank account.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What makes me sad is how many parents are saying their kids are having trouble making friends and other parents offering to have the kids get together. Also big flagship. Maybe not a great choice of school. But watching it all play out publicly on facebook is really tough.

It's hard to make friends when everyone is staring at their phone.

OP here. All of this is so true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's not an app for laundry?

OP. There is. Another reason why I question this beyond the basic - let your kid figure it out!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is anyone else ever shocked at what parents will ask on college family pages on Facebook? I see posts like "Where can my kid find quarters on campus to do laundry?" Or "what should my kid do if they lost their ID?" Or "does my kid need to tell someone if they go home for the weekend?"

I see posts like this on a daily basis for my kid's university (large public flagship) and while, sure, it's possible some of them need extra help, I can't help but wonder how these kids are going to succeed in life. What is with all these hovering parents???

There are entire channels on the TikTok mocking this.

It is absurd.

Good to know. I don't do TikTok, but that makes me feel like I'm not crazy (that this is a *thing*.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is anyone else ever shocked at what parents will ask on college family pages on Facebook? I see posts like "Where can my kid find quarters on campus to do laundry?" Or "what should my kid do if they lost their ID?" Or "does my kid need to tell someone if they go home for the weekend?"

I see posts like this on a daily basis for my kid's university (large public flagship) and while, sure, it's possible some of them need extra help, I can't help but wonder how these kids are going to succeed in life. What is with all these hovering parents???

If you truly were better than you wouldn't need to be on "college family pages on Facebook" would you? Why does such a thing exist?

Honestly - it's just to keep tabs on what's going on for awareness (like when the campus hotel is opening reservations for family weekend). But I'm probably not long for it at this rate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's not an app for laundry?

OP. There is. Another reason why I question this beyond the basic - let your kid figure it out!!

The kids will figure it out. The parents are just jumping into problem solving mode when likely they haven’t even been asked for help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is anyone else ever shocked at what parents will ask on college family pages on Facebook? I see posts like "Where can my kid find quarters on campus to do laundry?" Or "what should my kid do if they lost their ID?" Or "does my kid need to tell someone if they go home for the weekend?"

I see posts like this on a daily basis for my kid's university (large public flagship) and while, sure, it's possible some of them need extra help, I can't help but wonder how these kids are going to succeed in life. What is with all these hovering parents???

Is your kid at UMass? I literally saw al of these on the FB page. Lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's definitely not top tier fraternity kids whose parents are doing this.

"top tier" fraternity, lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was in a FB group for parents and I had to leave. I had nothing but snarky responses to post. Those people are just crazy.

Our FB page is moderated by somebody who keeps those comments out. They also post links to wher ethe parents/student can find the information, which is helpful.