General Discussion

This is not criticism of your post. I'm just trying to understand it because I've never seen that much of it and maybe that is generational. I'm leading edge boomer of WWII parents and my mother didn't wait on any of us hand and foot, and there were 4 girls and 3 boys. I have seen it more when I worked at a university and the mothers would come to school with their kids to enroll them in classes or look into student aid. This was the generation starting college around 2018-2019 - don't know what that generation is called. That's when the term "helicopter parent" emerged.

My son would get a real laugh out of your post about mothers who waited on their sons hand and foot their entire growing up years. As a mother I expected both my son and my daughter to do whatever they were capable of doing for themselves. My son was born fiercely independent and has been his entire life. My daughter was always independent also but I think she sometimes resented me for my values, especially in her teen years. My son was always grateful that I instilled independence in him. My mother died when I was a teenager and my father was pretty useless, so I had a lot of responsibility. I used to wonder how I would have survived and thrived if I wouldn't have been taught how to be independent and resourceful. I took that thought into my parenting years making sure that if I died they would have the skills to navigate life. After all, the number one job of parents is to give their child the skills they need to become healthy and functional adults.