Keep it on the Landing Pad: An Orientation Program for iGen Parents

Kennedy Union 222

This session shares an orientation program developed for the parents of iGen students. It introduced parents to developmental challenges and potential obstacles students face during their college years. This program is grounded in research; parents learned about the negative effects of helicopter parenting on students' growth and development and why helicopters should remain on the landing pad. We often say “parents are partners,” but as practitioners, are we keeping abreast of the research regarding current parenting styles, especially "helicopter parenting?" This program describes how a university can journey alongside parents in support of the principle that calls us to “Challenge students to high standards of personal behavior and responsibility through the formation of character and virtues.”