You say you're proud he found his own apartment, but you have the rent direct deposited from your account? What universe is this? Are there really enough people who live like this that Slate is running this piece as a straight story and not an expose of the lives of the super-rich? Absurd. Absurd!

She is what is now knows as a 'helicopter parent'...Get this, they even hover over their kids at basic training, now.

Absurd is right, she even pays his groceries!

this woman terrifies me. her incredibly self-indulgent view of what being a mother is gives all mothers a bad name. i agree with the absolute absurdity of her perspective. coddled is the best way to describe her poor son

simply put, she reaped what she sowed. i have two very privileged (for better or worse) young boys and who she is as a mother has less to do with her wealth and more to do with her huge ego. but shame on her for passing off her "problems" as being in any way normal or relatable to the masses

i'm hoping slate ran this only to incite a riot re: the "perils" of alpha- parenting

I don't see why you are in such a tizzy about this rent thing. He's a full time college student. It's not like he's working 40 hours a week and still expecting his parents to pay for his rent. If he was living on campus in a dorm would you be all bent out of shape because his parents were paying his dorm fee?

My 20 year old son is in college and we pay for his dorm housing and dining hall meals. My daughter is 21, is not attending college, has a job, does not live at home, and pays her own bills.

So, am I a bad mother because I pay for my son's living expenses when he only has a part-time, minimum wage job, as well as a full course load at a university?

amen, sister! i thought slate mag a horse of a different color. this article belongs in "family circle" or "woman's day"!
this mom floors me; she brags that her son chided her for not paying his rent on time?? WHATEVER.
what's sad is that this mentality runs rampant among this mom's demographic. and what a bunch of losers their sons turn out to be.
throw the xbox out the window, get a job, and pay your own rent!!!!
i worked three jobs and went to school full-time!!!! what a pampered, spoiled brat.

My 20 year old son is in college and we pay for his dorm housing and dining hall meals. My daughter is 21, is not attending college, has a job, does not live at home, and pays her own bills.

Paying for a dorm room and cafeteria is a good thing. It allows a focused student concentrate on his studies. But there is a big difference between getting a 8X10 room with a bathroom down the hall while taking 6 hard classes and getting your own apartment while taking 2-3 mickey mouse classes.

bookgirl:

I don't see why you are in such a tizzy about this rent thing. He's a full time college student. It's not like he's working 40 hours a week and still expecting his parents to pay for his rent. If he was living on campus in a dorm would you be all bent out of shape because his parents were paying his dorm fee?

My 20 year old son is in college and we pay for his dorm housing and dining hall meals. My daughter is 21, is not attending college, has a job, does not live at home, and pays her own bills.

So, am I a bad mother because I pay for my son's living expenses when he only has a part-time, minimum wage job, as well as a full course load at a university?

Bookgirl,

The situation you describe regarding your child and the situation described in the article are wholly different. The child in the article isn't attending a typical college, but a community college. I don't want to demean community colleges, they serve a great and important function in our society, but the fact is they are overall less difficult and less demanding than standard 4-year universities specifically because they are designed for individuals who have to work to make a living and/or who are raising families. This kid should be working; the article implies that he is not. Not only that, the mother moved him across the country into one of the most expensive cities in the world to attend a community college! And this is after he failed out of a 4-year university that many individuals would kill for in order to get a chance to attend! The mother in this article pays for everything for her son and acts like he's 'growing up,' which is an affront to so many of us who've worked hard all our lives in order to attend and get through college. Not only that, the mother in this article actually applied to college for the boy, even going so far as to choose the colleges and majors! This is simply appalling.