Mom..It's time to cut the apron strings!

[DisnyMama]

My DS (16) was interviewing for a job at Kroeger tonight, which he got -Yeah ! I waited in the car and he finally comes out and tells me that another kid interviewed just before him and his mom sat there through the interview the whole time. DS could hear the whole thing from where he was sitting and said the mom asked such questions like what if he has a test at school he has to make up or this or that ...personal stuff that employers look at as that's your problem. The manager even said to the mom that her biggest pet peeve are employees that don't stick to the schedule or show up to work on time.

We had to run home after the interview to get DS his birth certificate and go back to the store. Luckily it's practically right across the street from our house. When DS went back in to finish up and take his drug test the manager was interviewing another kid....with mom in tow!

I guess I just believe that if you are old enough to work then you are old enough to go in and get your own job, on your own.

 

[Biscuitsmom31]

No way!! Talk about helicopter parents...

 

[poohandwendy]

I guess I just believe that if you are old enough to work then you are old enough to go in and get your own job, on your own.

um, yeah.

You have to pity kids with parents like this.

 

[pppiglet]

Ok...the girl at my work has an 18 year old and she fills out applications for him and puts her cell number for the contact. When they call for him she says he's not in, but she'll have him call them back.

 

[Biscuitsmom31]

Ok...the girl at my work has an 18 year old and she fills out applications for him and puts her cell number for the contact. When they call for him she says he's not in, but she'll have him call them back.

One of my coworkers does the same thing for her daughter. She filled out all of her college applications, financial aid stuff, scholarship applications...I wonder how she plans on taking the entrance exam for her??

 

[TinkerbellMama]

That's just creepy.

 

[SleepyMom]

I guess I just believe that if you are old enough to work then you are old enough to go in and get your own job, on your own.

Not if she is planning on going to work with him, you know... help load the groceries into the carts after he bags them, stuff like that.

 

[Tink_Or_Belle]

ok I'll agree to its weird for the parents to go in with the kids I know when I turned 16 and applied for my 1st job I would have freaked out if my mom wanted to come with to the interview ... but here's my question if you live right across the street why did you have to drive him

 

[4greatboys]

I feel bad for those kids. They wont know how to deal with stuff in the real world when Mommy isnt there to take care of it.

 

[DisnyMama]

Luckily it's practically right across the street from our house. When DS went back in to finish up and take his drug test the manager was interviewing another kid....with mom in tow!


We don't live directly across the street, we are in a townhome comlex that is across the street from the store and the way the streets and units wind around within the complex we are a couple streets over from the main street that you cross to get to the store. Also, I originally drove him because we were already in route home from somewhere else. You see, DS didn't have an appointment for his interview like the others. What he has been doing at Wal-Mart also is the On-line Application then a couple days later he stops by the store and goes in and introduces himself to the manager ....well tonight his assertiveness payed off. Trust me, the location was part of the deal for him to be able to get a job because I'm trying to find a job myself so he has to be able to get back and forth to work on his own.

 

[ASFCurly]

Those parents are the worst, we have had some of those kids and parents at work and they call and yell all the time because their child is failing school because they are working and want their child to work only one day a week when they are only working 2 at that point and when hired said they could work 4 or 5. Yet we know for a fact that those kids are in track or football or soccer and have meets and practices like 6 days a week that their parent supports, and that is the real reason they are failing, not the one or two days a week they are working.

 

[bumbershoot]

When I got my first job, my mom told me as she was leaving for work that she expected me to get a job that day (I had been half-heartedly looking). I went out and got a job (Jack in the Box), drove myself and everything.

I loved my mom and relied on her for quite a lot of emotional support, but I can't quite imagine having her in on an interview, or even waiting out in the car!

 

[scottishduffy]

You think that is bad.... I have seen college grads do this. My mother works for a Hospice and my other friend works at a business firm. They have both had interviews with people who are college grads... and had their mommies in tow. On occassion parents have even tried to negotiate salaries for the kids! It is sick, it is a huge turn-off to the employers as this is a huge red flag that screams of an immature, irresponsible person who can not make their own decisions, or work independently . My mom was shocked by it at first but has now had several applicants who showed up with parents to job interviews. When the parents would try to be a p[art of the interview my mom generally told them that she was only interviewing the applicant and they could wait outside. At which Mommie would rattle of a list of Q's and 'tips' for the child. None of those kids got the jobs by the way.....

From the age of 16 onward I drove myself to my own job interviews. Mom may have proofread my resume (after I finished it), or even helped me look for a job. But I applied and interviewed on my own. Any tips and practice interviews were done at home. I rely on my parents for advice, but would never allow them to actually make my decisions for me. I would be humiliated to have a parent at an interview with me.

 

[DVCLiz]

One of my coworkers does the same thing for her daughter. She filled out all of her college applications, financial aid stuff, scholarship applications...I wonder how she plans on taking the entrance exam for her??

I think the college stuff falls into another category, though. My daughter had a really good college advising department at her school, so she had school support in filling out the applications, etc. But I wouldn't consider a parent helping to fill out the applications and file for financial aid as unusual. After all, it's a huge investment I'm making in my daughter's education - and MY financial information she is using. I think it's perfectly normal to want to see that form and make sure it's correct before it's sent out.

Now doing college essays is another matter entirely!!

 

[GirTheGecko]

I think the college stuff falls into another category, though. My daughter had a really good college advising department at her school, so she had school support in filling out the applications, etc. But I wouldn't consider a parent helping to fill out the applications and file for financial aid as unusual. After all, it's a huge investment I'm making in my daughter's education - and MY financial information she is using. I think it's perfectly normal to want to see that form and make sure it's correct before it's sent out.

Now doing college essays is another matter entirely!!

All my college financial paperwork was a joint effort between my parents and I. It's such a huge investment and so many things could have prevented me from going to school, they wanted to make sure it was all good. I agree with DVCLiz that it isn't unusual and probably a very good idea to have parents helping with it.

Everything else in my life was/is my responsibility. I still lean on Dad for advice, figuring that in 59 years he might have learned a thing or two.

 

[ducklite]

I can't imagine accompanying my DS to a job interview. He is disabled, and his first job after he graduated high school he got through the state DVR, and he had a job coach. It was a disaster on so many levels, frankly he would have been better off just doing it on his own.

When we moved and he began looking for a new job, he did it all on his own. He landed a job that he likes that's a career track, and I had nothing to do with it. IMHO if the child isn't capable of attending a job interview on his or her own, they aren't mature enough to have a job to begin with. I'd never hire someone who had a parent hovering over them at an interview.

 

[Mrs.Toad]

That's crazy. I feel sorry for that kid.

My fourth grader had to interview for her seat on the school's Student Board of Directors, and I didn't accompany her. If she can talk to adults about her "qualifications" on her own at age 9, I think she'll be able to at 16 or 18 as well.

 

[krissy2803]

Being a manager for a fast food place I get that all the time! It is really annoying.
Over the years I have come to recognize the helicopter parents versus the ones that are just there because the kids needed a ride. Most will sit in the car or way off on the other side of the dining room.(we dont' have a "back" room)

 

[ilovejack02]

My oldest is 18 and got his first job at 16. We did not accompany him to any interviews but did go over a few dos and donts beforehand.
We did fill out his financial aid packets for school though, since he had no idea what it was all about. The rest of it he was on his own.
We are so far from helicopter parents lol that when he was arrested this summer for a childish prank and had to go to court we sent him on his own. I did call the DAs office so we had a clue of how things were going to work and went over it with him before he went. Our thought was if you old enough to act up then you are old enough to handle your punishment. He plead guilty and had to take a class on bad judgement ( or as i told him... have fun at your class on how not to act stupid ; ) )

What are these kids going to do when they get out into the real world and have to get a real job, big companies will never hire someone with mom in tow.

 

[figment52]

No way!! Talk about helicopter parents...

I was going to ask where they parked their helicopters