The snow fall today reminded of the article by Bella English in the Boston Globe about snowplow parents. The term snowplow parents is a clever analogy for parents who are extremely over protective of their children and want to constantly clear any snow in their children’s path. More and more these types of parents are surfacing on the college level, and technology plays a role in their prominence.

In the article, English explains how snowplow parents are inserting themselves into their child’s lives at the college level. She gives examples of this intrusion such as one parent who called the dean of Boston University to complain about her child receiving a A- in a class. English continues by explaining the significance of the intrusion. By stepping into the lives of their child in such an aggressive manner, snowplow parents undermine the confidence of their child. Furthermore, the child will reach adulthood without understanding how to handle adversity because it has never been a part of their life.

Technology plays a large role in the creation of a snowplow parent relationship. With todays technology, it is possible to be in almost constant contact with your parents. Between text messages, emails, video chats and so on, people can easily maintain constant contact. The issue is that this constant contact pulls the student out of college life. It detracts from the college experience the student is supposed to receive. The student becomes reliant on connections to people and parents far away via technology and is less apt to succeed on his or her own.

I certainly have gone through a bit of a struggle with my parents upon going to college. They were very sad to see me leave their every day lives, and I know that if it was up to my mom I would have gone to Middlesex Community College five minutes from my house. Yet, over time my parents have gradually been able to surmount the difficulty of being apart. Now we text or call only about 4 times a week, still staying in close contact but not smothering me. I think the transition has gone as well as possible, and am grateful they are not full blown snowplow parents!