After our conversation about helicopter parents, who hover closely over their children, and the Danish term curling foraeldre, or “curling parents,” who sweep away problems ahead of their children, much like people sweeping the ice in curling, a listener in the Czech Republic proposes a term for a more laissez-faire parenting style. If you’re a golf parent, you do your best to point your kid in the right direction, and then let them fly. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Golf Parents”
You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it. I’m Grant Barrett.
And I’m Martha Barnette. We got an email from Jan Kuczibel, who is a school principal in the Czech Republic. And he writes, I listen to your show quite often, usually when walking to the school. I even have a place I call Chaneski’s Place. This is the place where his quiz always begins, since it comes more or less at the same time from the start of the show.
Anyway, he was talking about our conversation that we had about helicopter parents, you know, those parents who tend to hover in their children’s lives and about the fact that in Denmark, they’re called curling parents, alluding to the sport of curling and, you know, those frantic efforts to sweep away all the obstacles that are in your children’s path. Well, Jun and his wife, Sharka, decided that they’re golf parents. And the way he put it was, we tend to strike our children approximately in the right direction toward the hole and let them fly.
Oh, those are both so perfect. Curling parents like this well cared for stone gliding slowly down the ice. The parents in front frantically brushing away all obstacles. And then golf. Golf, you’re just using your best know-how, everything you can to push them in the direction of the hole and the flag and just putting your hand to your eyes to block out the sun just to see if they’re going to make it, you know, knowing it’s out of your control.
Yeah, maybe putting your hand over your eyes. Yeah, putting your hand over your eyes and just slowly walking behind, trying to catch up to wherever they’ve gone. Yeah. Right? Yeah, at some point you just have to let them go.
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