Pushy parents driven by consumer market, claims Liverpool academic

Jan 4 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

AMBITIOUS parents are becoming more and more involved in their children’s career choices as the consumer market arrives in academia, a Liverpool careers expert claimed yesterday.

Parents are so concerned for the future of their children they are accompanying undergraduates to careers fairs and even helping them negotiate post-graduate salaries, said Dr Paul Redmond, head of the careers and employability service at Liverpool University.

In a blog on a national newspaper website, Dr Redmond said some universities have now appointed “family liaison officers” and produced “parents’ packs” for so-called “helicopter” parents. He said: “Analysts link the rise of helicopter parenting to government policies, which in recent years have led to the gradual marketisation of the university sector.

“Parents, particularly those from middle-class backgrounds, are behaving more and more like consumers: they pay the money; they expect to see results.

“Not only are helicopter parents intricately involved in all aspects of the application process, they also expect to maintain similar levels of involvement once their son or daughter has embarked on their studies.”

Dr Redmond explains that the term “helicopter parents” first appeared in the 1990s to describe a new category of baby boomer-era parents with a close involvement in their child’s development.

What defines them, he says, is a tendency to hover over their offspring, booking appointments and chaperoning them.

Dr Redmond quotes a study which shows an 8% rise in the number of university students who live at home as further evidence of the “infantilisation” of society and the steady blurring of the boundaries between childhood and adulthood.

He said: “Not that living in halls means an end to helicopter parenting. The mobile phone is central to understanding the reach of the helicopter parents.

“Gone are the days when phoning home meant queuing up for hours once a fortnight in a draughty foyer clutching a bag of loose change, often to find that the phone was out of order. Today’s students can phone home whenever they like.

“The public payphone had one big advantage: it was virtually impossible for parents to phone in. As a result, students had to learn to be independent and self-reliant. They had no choice.”

Dr Redmond also said some high-profile graduate recruiters have reported incidents where parents have contacted them to negotiate a son or daughter’s starting salary.

“Others have had parents contact them to complain about a ‘child’ who has been overlooked for promotion,” he said.

Dr Redmond’s blog quoted Bob Athwal, a graduate recruitment manager at RWE NPower, saying: “We have certainly experienced this shift in generation. Over the last couple of graduate recruitment seasons we have notice that parents play a much more significant role in helping their children find the right employment.

“This stems from them attending fairs and helping to prepare their children for assessment centres.

“Once an offer of employment is made we are also aware that they the parents will decide along with the children which offer to take. Therefore it is essential that we strive to be an employer of choice not only for the graduates but also their parents.”

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