These days, due to numerous tech tools, from Life360 to parent Facebook groups to constant phone check-ins, parents are able to stay involved/overinvolved in their students’ lives by tracking their activities, habits and whereabouts. This parenting style can make it difficult for students to gain skills to make their own way, their own mistakes and their own opportunities for growth. And it can greatly increase students’ levels of stress as they work to gain independence.
“There’s a healthy level of checking in that can help someone’s mental health,” Jessi Gold, a psychiatrist and chief wellness officer of the University of Tennessee system, told Slate. “It’s really about: How do you find the medium to be that support for your kid and help them transition and help be there for them, but at the same time, give them space to grow and develop on their own?”
She suggested that parents help their student prepare for the college transition by fostering concrete skills such as refilling medication, making appointments and doing laundry.
And Slate mentioned students like Anna (not her real name) setting boundaries with their overinvolved families. She told her parents they needed to stop tracking her. “I revoked their access to [my location] and didn’t let them have it anymore,” Anna explained to the publication. A strained relationship ensued, yet Anna held firm until her parents came around. “I actually really enjoy talking to them now and I value their feedback,” she said. “Our relationship has actually really improved.”
Read more about parental overinvolvement here.
