<p>Ok - we frequently have posts about helicopter parents and parents who do way too much for their kids, but I would like to nominate this one to take the top prize…</p>
<p>I work in a small school district. We have a current opening for a 6th grade teacher. My principal got one set of application materials that was mailed to us by the parent! The parent wrote the cover letter telling the principal all about her son’s wonderful qualities and would we please consider him for the position. I have no idea if the son had any input into the application at all. Beyond belief…</p>
<p>Needless to say, he was not being considered.</p>
<p>Several years ago, H was the director of purchasing at a large company…He was looking to hire someone from out of state, who was returning to the area where he grew up. H needed to contact him to confirm the time of their interview (in the age before wide-spread cell phone usage), and he called the local number provided, which happened to be the guy’s parents’ home. The very Greek mother answered, and when H identified himself, she said, “Oh, you should hire my xxxie… He is such a good boy!”</p>
<p>Later (after H DID hire the guy), his mother insisted that H and I come to their house for dinner as a “thank you”…we ended up going, because she wouldn’t give up the idea. It was a bit strange, but the food was traditional Greek and was AWESOME! Ha, ha…</p>
<p>astrophysicsmom, not the same type of story, but I worked with a guy whose mother baked several cakes and made his son bring them in for all of us (bosses and peers). This went on for about 3 weeks. I thought it was nice, but strange. She turned it into a business, and this was her way of advertising. Suddenly her son announced that his mother’s cakes were for sale and one could just put in an order with him. Oh, and the cakes were not even very good, LOL. I did not care for them when a slice was free.</p>
<p>Shennie, I heard of a similar story around these parts!</p>
<p>Marite: It is a small district so applicants apply directly to the school that has the position. We have 1600 students in the district and 4 schools - a primary school for grades K-2, elementary grades 3-5, middle grades 6-8 and a high school. There would be no reason to complicate the procedure by sending things through the district office.</p>
<p>I don’t know about them running out of gas. My Mum was never a helicopter parent but parents can do the strangest things sometimes. When we were living in Egypt one of the high ups from the home office was in the country and was coming to a get together at our house. My Mum was visiting and I had commented to her that we were going to schmooze the guy a little because we really wanted a posting to Thailand. She proceeded to tell him how much we wanted to go to Thailand and that he should sent us. I was absolutely mortified. And no we didn’t get the posting. (my husband was in his 40s at the time - imagine - a helicopter mother-in-law).</p>
<p>My policy with my kid’s is that a job is a job and it is not the parents place to phone bosses etc. When my son worked in fast food during high school he told me about a girl whose Mom would call the boss about scheduling and would complain about this and that. It ticked the shift leaders off so much that none of them wanted the girl on their shifts and she got barely any hours.</p>
<p>There’s a high-ranking woman at my office whose mom sends in the most spectacular cookies at Christmas time and several other times a year. She sends in huge amounts of cookies and they’re shared with everyone. The woman is a rock star, I tell you, and has created wonderful memories and goodwill here at the company.</p>
<p>Somehow it seems less overbearing at a small company than at a public school district for a parent to put in a good word. We actually once hired someone because we knew the mother, and the employee was quite nice and a good worker. BUT we are a small privately owned concern.</p>
<p>Cookies usually show up only at the holidays, but I think the employees usually make them.</p>
<p>Shennie: Thanks. I used to serve on hiring committees for my kids’ school. Some parents screened applications, others did interviews (together with teachers and the principal). All applications were housed at the personnel department.</p>
<p>I know a mother who dressed up, took her son’s application and a resume and drove to the admissions office of a large, public top tier university (how many of those can there be ) and turned her son’s application in while telling the Adcom what a wonderful student he would be.</p>
<p>My kids would so kill me if I did something like that.</p>
<p>I have to fight really had to keep this helicopter grounded but at least I try. I manage to limit myself to making unwanted helpful suggestions to my kids which they mostly ignore (no doubt rolling their eyes behind my back). I read something on CC suggesting Cornell notes as a good way of taking notes and sent the info to my daughter (Hey - I would love to have been taught a method of doing notes 100 years ago before Al Gore invented the internet.). I asked her if I should sent the info to her brother (older and returning to college) and she said -sure go ahead - he’ll probably ignore it. I could almost feel her eyes rolling over the phone.</p>
<p>Yes the kid got accepted. Probably because the woman was on the school board during the six years her two kids attended high school in our city. What teacher would dare give a poor grade to a school board member’s child? She would write their papers, hand pick their teachers and sent them to Kumon math classes to prepare. She even went to a neighbor’s house who had PAID her child to help with a function and had them sign a note stating the child had done it as a volunteer activity so her kid could get into NHS. </p>
) and turned her son’s application in while telling the Adcom what a wonderful student he would be.</p>