African-American parents can unintentionally sabotage the growth of their children by being overprotective (1116 hits)

I'm on a crusade to expose children of color to upper echelon camp experiences like the ones I participated in when I was the only little Brown kid at camp. I even have a story about my camp experience published on the Oprah's Angel Network Web site. My crusade means that I'm speaking to lots of parents. And to be frank, I'm a little disappointed by what I've been hearing from many parents as I spread the word about the benefits of travel camp: "I would NEVER EVER send my daughter that far" and "She can go, but she can't go without me" are the top two responses I get from helicopter parents. Time Magazine defines helicopter parents as parents who hover. It's clear that I have a lot of work to do.
Helicopter parents or not, fear and trust seem to be the top two issues for parents of color; far more than parents from other backgrounds. And while it makes sense that a history of oppression likely breeds mistrust and fear, my fear is that this generation of children will be stifled not only by the lack of socialization that the overuse of technology brings about, but by their own well-meaning parents just as well. One way to help children develop and grow into independent adults with sharp critical thinking skills is to first trust yourselves as parents by doing your due diligence and then by letting go...just a little bit.
What do you think? Posted By: One Brown Girl
Saturday, May 8th 2010 at 11:00PM
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