The room was filled with the smell of snacks and hot drinks as nearly 40 people picked their seats. Jazzy music played in the background setting a coffee-house-esque atmosphere. Everyone was getting ready, books out on the table, notes in hand, opinions bubbling.

This was the Book Club held Monday in the Library by SDA’s Principal Bjorn Paige. This event was held to discuss the book, “How To Raise An Adult,” which talks about the struggle an overprotective parent may have as their kids grow up and how to learn to let go.

The room contained a variety of people, mainly parents, ready to share their opinions. Even a few students attended to provide a first hand account of this “helicopter parent” issue.

The event started out with Paige calling order and saying “this would be a conversation, not a lecture.” Everyone jumped right into the discussion. Mainly concerned parents shared their thoughts on how to keep their kids safe while still having them be able to function on their own.

Throughout the discussion, many aspects of the book were discussed. The book advocated for the parents to learn to wince, and not pounce, which led many parents to share stories of times where they should help their kids, and other times when they helped their kid understand that they should be able to learn to get up after being knocked down.

Then the discussion headed towards a program called Class Dojo which allowed parents to get a notification if their child was on task or not. This just furthered the parents’ anxieties because they didn’t know what they could do with this information. The consensus on this was that the parents should know how their child is to a degree, but don’t need to know every little bad thing their child does.

The discussion then drifted to how Aeries played a role in overparenting. There were some parents who said they always checked Aeries because their kid wouldn’t always remember to turn things in, while others said they never check Aeries and aim to just let their children fail if that’s what they want to do. However, all parents agreed that watching their child fail can be very difficult and goes back to the conclusion that parents should aim to wince, not pounce.

This then led to more of a conversation about the students and how they are affected by this overparenting and pressures of school. Both parents and students said, in their experience, many students seem to care a lot about points, more than the actual learning aspect of school.

Overall, this topic led to a long discussion with no direct conclusion allowing for thought after the event. There never was a dull point and everyone contributed something, whether just their presence or their thoughts or even stories on the topic.

This meeting ended with people furthering the discussion singularly and even thanking people for speaking. Due to this success in prompting a avid discussion, another meeting may be held with a different book, next fall, Paige said.