“Meet Fiona. She is now 18, and her parents struggled to conceive for several years before finally managing to have their ‘miracle child.’ From the day of her birth, their lives would revolve around protecting Fiona from any possible danger that could come to her.
Fiona was the kind of child who would cry at the slightest negative comment by a teacher, or the slightest jeer from another student. During primary school, this wasn’t too out of the ordinary, but it did signify how she was a little too molly-coddled at home. She always had jam sandwiches, a mini roll, BBQ hula hoops, and an orange for her lunch. Every now and then she would have a banana. She has exactly the same lunch in 2018, and the same hairstyle she had back then; an ultra-long brown ponytail.
For my eighth birthday, we hired a bouncy castle for the garden and had all of my friends over. She was invited because yeah, she was one of my friends. However, her mother refused to leave her in the care of my parents. Instead, she insisted on staying and monitoring the party, much to the annoyance of my auntie, who wanted to chat with my mom in peace. Of course, when Fiona bounced a little too hard on the bouncy castle and started crying, her mother was quickly there to save the day. This is what happens when you don’t let your child experience little minor grievances like scraping their knee or bumping their head, they cry at anything.
During middle school, we went by bus to the local high school to use their Design & Technology equipment. Oh, but not Fiona. Fiona’s father insisted on picking her up from the middle school and driving her to the high school, which was ten minutes away, just in case the bus driver had a heart attack or tried to kidnap us all. Every time she walked past the bus to get to her father’s car, she would be laughed at and mocked.
Now Fiona is attending university and has an unusually close relationship with her media studies teacher. As in, she and another student are constantly in this room, acting as his personal assistant. Again, this is what happens when a child is overly attached to their parents. They always need a parent figure.
It’s a pity because Fiona has missed out on some fantastic opportunities. The school offered her the chance to visit London for an animation course, but her parents wouldn’t allow it. She also missed out on a trip to Berlin for the same reason and will be attending a local university, despite her actually wanting to venture out into the great wide world. Fiona has never been out with friends. She has never been to our local city without her parents. In fact, I don’t think she has actually been more than five-miles away from her parents at any given point. This is an 18-year-old girl we are talking about.
I hope that one day she will finally rebel and break free from her parent’s control, but I doubt that will ever happen.”