Parents Associations??

suek66

5-Year Member
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Mar 31, 2010
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Does anyone belong to or have information on your sons/daughters parents association specific to ROTC?
It seems as though very few schools have them, and I am considering suggesting it to our sons battalion.
 
Does anyone belong to or have information on your sons/daughters parents association specific to ROTC?
It seems as though very few schools have them, and I am considering suggesting it to our sons battalion.

I have not heard of any Parents Association, at least none of the schools my son applied to had such an association.

To be honest the only thime I have ever talked to a parent of a cadet was when I have watched a commissioning ceremony and the parents of the graduating cadets were attending.

Come to think about it the only time I have ever met any parents was when I have attended Dad's Day at the university.

While I have talked many times with different cadre members at my son's batallion, we never really discussed my son in particular. The cadre will be polite and talk with you but once your son is 18 they really don't discuss that much with you. There is really no parental involvement at all.

It's not like High School where parents help set up special events, these events are run by the cadets, they actually receive points and have to follow strict protocals, they select cadets to be in charge of such events, this is all part of their training.

I'm not sure what the purpose of a Parents Association would be. ROTC is a competitive environment, I'm not sure cadets would even want their parents talking with the parents of other cadets and sharing stories.

I just noticed that your son is in his first year, I hope he is doing well and enjoying the experience. I think I would talk to your son about suggesting a Parent Association before you talk to the batallion. If I were to ask my son, he is a third year MS3, he would scream NO!! I am sure of that.
 
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The Parents Association is really for the SA's and not ROTC. Our DS attends a large school with a significant size det., and there is not Parents Association. You may find them at schools with a Corps, note there are only 7 universities that have a Corps.

Most dets do take the opinion of time to cut the apron strings. Actually, since they are 18, even if you are paying the bill, the det. will not discuss anything with you since they are a legal adult.

For ROTC parents they don't have things like Parents weekend. There is no ceremonial issues that they will be invited to, accept for commissioning.
 
The Parents Association is really for the SA's and not ROTC. Our DS attends a large school with a significant size det., and there is not Parents Association. You may find them at schools with a Corps, note there are only 7 universities that have a Corps.

Most dets do take the opinion of time to cut the apron strings. Actually, since they are 18, even if you are paying the bill, the det. will not discuss anything with you since they are a legal adult.

For ROTC parents they don't have things like Parents weekend. There is no ceremonial issues that they will be invited to, accept for commissioning.

Legally, the Bn's/Det's can't discuss anything with the parents. It's the same as universities not revealing information to parents about their children.

As far as a parents association. There really is no need in an ROTC setting. Unless you're talking about a group of parents that just talk to each other about what their cadet is going through to make themselves feel better?
 
Legally, the Bn's/Det's and Colleges and Universities can discuss issues with the parents if the students sign a waiver allowing them to do so. Smart BN/DET "encourage" this.

Personally, I have made it very clear to my child/ren that if you (The Child) want our (The parents) financial support - Sign the waiver to allow us to both know and discuss issues with your school and BN/Det.

We (The Parents) have skin (Money and emotions) in the game and therefore deserve a say. If the Child doesn't want us (the Parents) to have a say, then they can support themselves. It is a big grown up world at this stage.

I also must state, that every child whom I have met who has even the slightest respect for their parents have never balked at signing that waiver form.

AMEN and same in our house. My money is an INVESTMENT IN YOUR FUTURE. I don't know of any stockbroker that won't give you an idea of your return on investment on any given day. You want privacy? Pay your own way. That said, I'm not a "helo mom". Just one who wants to be ABLE to access info if a situation seems to warrant that. Which, I'm sure won't be often, if ever.
 
At my son's SMC, the university as a whole takes a friendly view of parent acknowledgement. And there is a BIG difference in catering to the "helo" parent and just respecting that our kids are in a transition period from child to adult.

The university at large (including the civilian population) has a series of "Mom's Clubs". They are based on regions of the state, and out-of-state parents can be adopted by one of them. These clubs have local meetings to support their kids tangentially with fund raisers, goodie-bags, and just a place to offer support to one another.

On the Battalion level, there is no Parent Association per se, but when our kids start as freshman, the Commandant of Cadets (a General) has a parent meeting with all Corps Parents to let them know what to expect and then to offer an open door policy to parents to contact him if needed. Then each individual outfit Commanding Officer has a parent meeting to say essentially the same thing. Again, they don't want the "helo" parent, but they want to let you know they are there when the occasional need to talk comes up. We are each given a t-shirt that says in big, bold letters "Corps Parent." We wear them proudly.

They have a Parent's Weekend annually with each outfit having their own awards banquet. Each mom gets to pin a carnation on the cadet's lapel during it to acknowledge the love and support from home. It's actually quite touching. Parents all come to the home football games and are present for the step-off for pass in review that happens before the game. Each outfit and their families have a picnic together on that day, too.

The importance of family is well acknowledged at his university. I have never "intervened" on his behalf with professors or advisors, or helped him pick-out his classes, or complained to his upperclassmen about his treatment, etc. But I feel very welcomed there as a parent.
 
I have to say I didn't know about the waiver. I will say, we really did take a hands off approach for ROTC.

We are there to be his sounding board, but it is his responsibility to do what he needs to do if an issue arises.

SMP are different than the traditional university, as I stated earlier I am sure with schools that have Corps they probably have parent associations too.

However, for the traditional university, ROTC is really an adjunct part of their life. They don't classify themselves as a ROTC student at XYZ college. They classify themselves as an XYZ student in ROTC. 2 different approaches. Most parents also feel the same. We say our DS attends college at XYZ and he is in ROTC too.

I also do think there is a difference between Helo parenting and a parent that guides/counsels. Sometimes the line can be blurred. ROTC actually makes it hard for some to cut the strings because it feels like there is always one more board, and the severity of the board re: their life is amped up each time.
 
I can't imagine what a parents' association would do that the bn wouldn't have the cadets do for themselves. I do check the bn website for recaps/pics of events and the like and wouldn't expect to be invited to anything except the commissioning ceremony (for all 4 years - it is a community event). I haven't talked to anyone in the bn since I dropped her off last fall (and that was basic exchange of greetings and wishes for a good year). This is goaliegirl's adventure and she shares plenty of it with me on her terms.

I also don't contact the hockey coach except to thank him for the team newsletters and invites to various event (none of which I can attend from this distance unfortunately). I think goaliegirl appreciates the space to manage her own affairs. She asks advice and occasionally help (logistical mostly - things that need to be done here at home), but her 4 years in boarding school has made the transition to college life a bit of a snooze.
 
TPG and VAMOM,

So glad to know about the waivers for parents. I hear parents complain all the time that their child missed a deadline for Honors housing or a class registration or a deposit or whatever because the child received the email information instead of the parent, and the child failed to read the full email or just missed the date. Kids are busy, and, just like adults, some kids are better at administrivia than others. Nice to have more than one set of eyes knowing what's going on.

I am definitely in the court that as long as we are paying the non-NROTC college bills still, we have a right to information regarding college, grades, etc, without being overbearing. The nice thing is that we have already set up a great relationship with the NROTC freshman advisors at son's top two NROTC colleges, so I feel comfortable that son will be in good hands and that I could call if I needed something, which would likely/hopefully be rare.
 
Sorry, I should have specified. I knew about the waiver, but out of rush, left it out.
 
WOW! Lots of info..
I was actually talking more of a means of support for the parents, not for the students. More of a 'my kid is doing this with his life, and yours is too.." kind of thing.
We too have pretty well severed the apron strings and don't get involved in his classes nor interfering with the battalion.
However I've noticed that several of the individual colleges (nursing etc..) have parent organizations that help with fund raising and such. And some battalions seem to be better funded than others...

The SA's I think have more of a parent support structure because their cadets are not in touch as ours our.
 
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