Move over, helicopter parents. "Snowplow(扫雪机) parents" are the newest reflection of an intensive(强化的) parenting style that can include parents booking their adult children haircuts, texting their college kids to wake them up so they don't sleep through a test, and even calling their kids' employers.
Helicopter parenting, the practice of wandering anxiously near one's children, monitoring their every activity, is so 20th century. Some rich mothers and fathers now are more like snowplows: machines moving ahead, clearing any difficulties in their children's path to success, so they don't have to suffer failure, frustration(挫折)or lose opportunities.
It starts early, when parents get on wait lists for excellent preschools before their babies are born and try to make sure their kids never do anything that may frustrate them. It gets more intense when school starts: running forgotten homework to school or calling a coach to request that their children make the team.
Rich parents may have more time and money to devote to making sure their children don't ever meet with failure, but it's not only rich parents practicing snowplow parenting. This intensive parenting has become the most welcome way to raise children, regardless of income, education, or race.
Yes it's a parent's job to support the children, and to use their adult wisdom to prepare for the future when their children aren't mature enough to do so. That's why parents hide certain toys from babies to avoid getting angry or take away a teenager's car keys until he finishes his college applications.
But snowplow parents can take it too far, some experts say. If children have never faced a difficulty, what happens when they get into the real world?
"Solving problems, taking risks and overcoming frustration are key life skills," many child development experts say, "and if parents don't let their children experience failure, the children don't acquire them."
