ICBM Parenting
Image courtesy United States Air ForceWe've written a bit about helicopter parenting. A recent New York Times article suggests a whole new level of this phenomenon:
Brian Aladesuyi, 17, received a new Jeep in exchange for a promise: he would never drive it outside his hometown, Kennesaw, Ga. His father, Kayode Aladesuyi, chief executive of the security firm EarthSearch Communications, used EarthSearch’s Web site to map Kennesaw’s boundaries into the Jeep’s onboard computer, surrounding the entire city with an electronic fence. But when his father took a business trip to Brazil, Brian decided to try his luck, Mr. Aladesuyi said. Brian drove to Marietta, a neighboring town. Seconds after Brian breached the invisible wall, his father received a text message on his mobile phone. Mr. Aladesuyi sent a message commanding the computer to disable the Jeep’s engine as soon as Brian switched it off. When the Jeep would not restart, Brian had to call his father and confess he had broken their agreement. “I don’t think Brian really understood I could do that from Brazil,” Mr. Aladesuyi said.
Parents have now developed intercontinental capabilities in regulating (or interfering in, depending on your perspective) their kids' lives. Is this the beginning of the end of the debauched spring break in Cancun?
(For those of you who don't remember the cold War, "ICBM" means "inter-continental ballistic missile," though a colleague suggests that in this instance it can stand for "inter-continental brat monitoring.")
Josh Calder
in Families
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