In short, they crack-up when their parents die!
My husband has a cousin, who was raised by two helicopter parents. Sad, sad, tale. She was brilliant! They put all their time and attention into their beautiful daughter since the DAY she was born! She could walk early, talk early, & poop in the toilet early.
Straight A student all through school, as a teen was told to ignore boys because they were only after one thing (she complied, as she had since birth). She never had a date and has never been kissed. And, she never had any girl friends or associates.
Went to a great college and got a great education! Did I mention she was brilliant!
She did everything (only) with her parents, lived with her parents, her dad drove her to and from her school and her work, for her entire life. She lived in a bubble of protection created by her parents.
The parents message: achieve in academics, get a good job & succeed; the world is a scary place and we must protect you.
She was a lovely person, who was sweet, kind, soft-spoken and gracious.
She got a job teaching at a well known university, she was so brilliant in MATH she WROTE text books and invented math formulas!
THEN THE CRASH: Mom & Dad got old, they died. Mom first.
She wouldn’t let anything in her room be touched, down to the dirty panties on the floor.
She began sleeping in her mother’s bed.
Soon after, Dad died. Their beautiful home went into complete dis-repair.
She cracked up! She broke ALL the family china out of the china cabinet, and whatever else she could grab that represented her happy past-life.
She started sleeping in the car. She stopped bathing. All she wore was black.
She started begging for money from people outside the local grocery store.
They tried to fire her from her job, because she came to work looking like a smelly bag lady. They could not however, because she had tenure.
It’s been years since her parents died, and she is still “not right.”
If there is a lesson to be learned for parents: DO NOT DO THIS TO YOUR CHILDREN!
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