Heat rushes to her face. Man, oh man! She might be off men right now, but what did she just do? What is she always saying to Georgia?
Never post in anger.
Delete.
How do you delete?
She pulls her varifocals from her face and drags the keyboard closer. There. Found it. Delete post.
But grey circles are already appearing.
My problem? What’s yours?? Check the data: over-parented kids stand the lowest chance of success in life.
Just to be helpful, he adds a link from a Swedish Parenting Website circa 2009.
The absolute nerve of the man! Heather’s fingers spring to life but, again, too late.
Statistically your DD (!!) stands an 85% chance of not making it to the end of her freshman year and you have a 79% chance of being prescribed antidepressants in the next 9 months after spending half your life focusing entirely on your kid!!
Heather’s pulse hammers in her neck. Her vision goes swirly. 85% chance of this, 79% chance of that? How absolutely DARE he?
And she hadn’t even used that acronym!
A new chat opens.
(Admin)
Please, can I remind everyone of the group rules? We have agreed to always be courteous. This is an informal group of parents who are not affiliated with the university. I took down the previous chat, and any repetition will result in my removing individuals from the group. Thank you.
Removed from the group?
When she’s only just joined?
Heather hasn’t been forcibly excluded from something since 2012 when Sabrina Mackay’s mother withdrew Georgia’s party invite based on“difficulty catering for Georgia’s dietary needs”. She watches, powerlessly, as Scott Reynold’s smug, bronzed face disappears from her feed.
‘Georgia,’ she shouts up the stairs.
‘Yeah?’
‘It’s nearly mid-day. Come on. We need to buy you a mattress topper.’
SCOTT
Scott slams the laptop shut, springs to his feet, and drops into the plank position. Press ups are the answer to most problems.
One, two, three.
He throws his weight onto his biceps. Those bloody helicopter parents who devote their whole lives to their kids.
Seven, eight, nine.
A slight burn develops. Good.
Those people don’t realise what a bloody privilege it is to dedicate their entire beings to another person.
