Few arenas of life reveal as much as youth sports does about—parents. I remember my own good times and, with much chagrin, my bad ones. Thirty-five years working as a referee in youth and high school soccer revealed the growing trend of “helicopter” parents who hovered over their kids to protect them and “snow plow” parents who tried to pave the way for them.
I have written a blog on technology, leadership, and industrial applications for just over 20 years. Many, many PR agencies have me on their radar. Sometimes I get strange releases. Here is one I just received where a data company did an analysis of TikTok and Google search data.
Job Shift Shock is the most popular work trend with a total 1.7B TikTok views and nearly 121K monthly searches on Google. The trend leads the list as it describes the transition from initial excitement of beginning a new job to the disappointment of unexpected responsibilities.
I can think of few clearer signals about what happens to young people when they have always had someone there to smooth the way for them. I remember hiring a young man recently graduated from university. He wondered how long (a year or two?) before he would be in line to be president of the company.
The book of Proverbs contains some excellent advice for raising kids—as long as you are not a literalist reader. You must provide guidelines, guardrails, and discipline. And also appropriate and increasing measures of freedom to go play and learn to get along with other humans.
Faith Venture 
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