One morning last week, while sipping coffee in bed and scrolling on my phone, my social media feed presented an article about parenting teenagers using the “potted plant” method.
“Get this,” I said to my husband Chris, next to me in the bed. “This article says that teenagers don’t want to engage with their parents, but they still want them nearby, hovering quietly in the background — like a ‘potted plant,’” I said using air quotes.
Chris looked up from his phone. “So first it was helicopter parents, then snow plow parents, and now potted plant parents?”
“Apparently.”
He rolled his eyes and went back to Wordle. However, I was interested enough to read on.
