I had a friend in grade school that had the most overprotective mother I have ever encountered. I’ll call her Bea. This poor kid couldn’t get away from her mom. Her mother would inspect her teeth after she brushed them and would floss for her! Bea’s mom did this until her daughter moved out! She would insist Bea didn’t know how to do her own hair and do it herself. Her mom cooked for her and cut her food, even when Bea protested.
School was a nightmare for Bea. Her mom would drive her there and walk her to her desk because she didn’t know the bus driver and the bus didn’t have seat belts. Her mom always talked to her teacher about what Bea could and couldn’t do, right there in front of everyone. Bea couldn’t eat school lunch or snack because her mom didn’t know what they were serving. She packed an unappetizing lunch for her and Bea couldn’t even swap or toss it because her mom came to eat lunch with her every day. She even took her to the bathroom to brush her teeth afterward.
Bea’s mom would corner her friends and grill us with questions. If we didn’t answer like she thought we should then she’d tell Bea our friendship was over and not to talk to us. She informed the gym teacher that Bea was very delicate and couldn’t participate in gym.
The poor girl could not even play two feet away from her mom in her own front yard! I made the mistake of inviting her to a sleepover once. What an ordeal! We weren’t even little kids. We were 13 or 14. Her mom decided to “inspect” my entire house before deciding Bea could stay. She stayed two hours talking to my folks about crazy what if situations that would never happen! We tried to ignore them and watch a movie in the living room.
We were watching Legend with Tom Cruise when she came screeching into the room, turning off the TV and ranting about corrupting her daughter. We had to promise not to watch anything over a g rating before she would move. It took forever to get her mom to leave and she left rules when she did. Bea couldn’t go outside, she couldn’t run, she couldn’t listen to rock music. There were a TON of them. They made no sense!
15 minutes later, her mom called just to be sure Bea didn’t need anything. 15 more minutes and she called to see what we were watching. 15 after that she called to see what time we would be eating supper and what we were having. She didn’t like what we were having so she told Bea not to eat and she would bring her dinner. Rude.
The calls came almost every 15 minutes even after she delivered Bea’s supper and stayed to cut it up. She wanted to be sure Bea wasn’t eating junk food or having her nails or hair done. Why even go to a slumber party? She even called to convince Bea to leave and come home. I know it wasn’t her fault but I never invited her over again.
This woman even went with Bea to her first job interview! Needless to say she did NOT get the job. Bea moved out the minute she turned 18 and has been running pretty much ever since.