Parents

This week has been the week for dealing with parents. I think there needs to be a class on how to communicate with parents. I'm not having any particular issues, in fact, most of the parents I've dealt with have been nothing but supportive of their children. However, from what I've seen, it seems as though these parents are teaching their children learned helplessness. None of the students have come to see me about their work. For the most part, I've only dealt with the parents. I'm thankful that the parents are showing interest and supporting their children in their academics, but I wonder whether the students are really benefiting from it. Yes, they're freshmen and need a little push here and there, but if mom and dad keep track of their grades for them, how do the students learn responsibility? What incentive does the student have other than getting his parents off his back about grades? At that point, the student is no longer doing the work for himself, but rather for the parent. As a teacher, how do you handle situations like this? I want to teach my students to be autonomous, but if their parents are constantly intervening or doing things for them, what can I do to counteract them? Is it my place to?