Corn Maze 911 Call a Sad Sign of The Horror Ahead

No doubt you've seen the headline, or watched the national press coverage of the young Massachusetts couple who got lost in a corn maze and had to be rescued by the police.


The Connors Farm corn maze is located in Danvers, Mass., about 23 miles north of Boston.

After about an hour in the maze, darkness began to fall. The couple, who were there with their 3-week-old baby, panicked and placed a desperate call to police. They were rescued within 20 minutes.

The Danvers police released an edited transcript:

Woman in tears: Hi, I just called. I'm still stuck at Connors Farms. I don't see anybody. I'm really scared. It's really dark and we've got a 3-week-old.

Police officer: Your husband is with you?

Woman: Yes. But my baby...

Police officer: A police officer is on the way. Can you put your husband on the phone?

Husband: I see lights over there at the place, but we can't get there, we're smack right in the middle of the corn field.

Woman: I don't know what made us do this, it was daytime when we came in, we thought if we came in someone would come in and find us... We can hear [the police officers]... Oh, my goodness. The mosquitoes are eating us alive, and I never took my daughter out, this is the first time. Never again.

Woman: This is embarrassing.

The couple have yet to be identified but their plight and panic is troubling and sadly symptomatic of gen-y often call generation "next" adults raised by helicopter parents.

Over the last 25 years the hovering parent has evolved to a standard. The concept of no child left behind, massive parental oversight, soccer moms, tethered kids, home schooling, lock step education and pass fail grading has resulted in adults who can't solve even the slightest of problems.

It this case it meant picking a direction and forcing their way through 25 feet of corn stalks to the parking lot and their car.

Cedar Posts lives in a nice quiet South Charlotte neighborhood, for the most part we are well removed from crime on our dead end street.

A dozen homes away there is a large family, four, five maybe six kids. Whenever the kids are out playing the parents are present. They set up lawn chairs and keep a steady eye on the kids.

Besides protectors of real or imagined predators, these hovering parents are also well meaning problem solvers. They are quick to jump up to address any issue, they fix broken toys, upright fallen bikes, retrieve lost balls, mediate all disputes no matter how minor. And therein lies the trouble.

It starts with a preschool puzzle, the square piece won't fit into the round hole and the hover parent is quick to place the round piece in baby's hand.

The hover parents are always there, at soccer games they step up to help their child tie his shoes, and wipe her nose. They make calls, they arrange rides, pack their kids bags and speak to the coach about playing time.

They never miss a game, fail to complete a school project on time, or help look up answers on wikipedia for their precious child.

In college they will stop at nothing to make sure their daughter is a success, tending to every possible detail and intervening on even the shortest of notice.

I have employed college graduates who where incapable of problem solving. It was impossible for them to think outside the box or on their own. It is not that they were dumb, they simply never were given the opportunity to fail and try again. It doesn't take long to learn than their parents were of the hover variety.

Hover parents have raised an emerging generation who can't think for themselves, adults who are entering the work force, and having families yet they lack the basic skill set to survive even the most trivial of challenges, including a corn field.