My 20-year-old daughter, Allison, living in Philadelphia, sent me a text the other day："I need socks and shampoo.”She was actually asking me to______those items for her, but I ______she was playing a cell phone game. I decide not to be a helicopter(直升机)______,because experience as a mother and professor has taught me how______that can result.

__, I prefer a more hands-off approach. From the time Allison turned 18, I no longer had any____ to know her work and life schedule.

But that's not what I ___ at Drexel University where I teach. Most of my students talk to their __ three times a day or more. One student's mother called because she didn't ____ from him for a few days. He was in the library so he______"hello". She doubted that he was drinking, and insisted on asking him to______a picture of himself. Holding a newspaper with that day's ____，he took a picture and sent it to his mother in order to ___ that he wasn't telling a lie.

I've always treated my students as independent beings. I tell them on the first day that I will not follow up with them on missing____or assignments. I am getting them to become independent thinkers, and take responsibility for their ____.

But their parents don't______them like me. I know a mother. She supervises(监督)her son too much. She hopes he will walk by the______，so that she can know what he is doing. Another mother checks her son's credit card daily. However, I never do that. My daughters only come to me with____things that need my decision, and I think that's because I give them space.

Many parents try to find if their kids are______from them. But we have to learn to respect boundaries(界限)，even when technology is so ____. So I am going to do my best not to be a helicopter parent.

One Saturday morning, Jeremy woke up in a quiet house. Usually Mom was _______ making breakfast and cleaning the kitchen, but not today. Jeremy walked to her _______ and knocked at the door.

“Don’t come in, Jeremy,” said Mom. “I have a terrible cold. I don’t want you to get _______. You can have cereal (麦片) for breakfast and watch cartoons. I’m going to _______ in bed.”

Jeremy _______ some cereal into a bowl and ate the pieces dry. Mom must feel very bad if she was lying in bed all day. “How could I _______ her?” Jeremy thought.

Saturday was the day that mom washed clothes. He ran to his room to get his dirty clothes. Jeremy opened the door to the washer and put all of his clothes _______. He had _______ Mom do laundry (洗衣服) lots of times, so he knew where to find the soap and how to pour it into the _______. Finally, he closed the door and pressed the big ________ that said “START.”

Jeremy ________ the round, glass window. ________ was pouring in, and the machine was starting to work, making his clothing tumble (翻滚) around.

Jeremy watched cartoons ________ he heard the washing machine beep (发出嘟声). That meant the ________ was done. Jeremy opened the door to take out the wet clothes. Everything seemed clean, and Jeremy felt ________.

On August 26, 1999, New York City was struck by a terrible downpour. The rain caused the streets to _________ and the subway system almost came to a stop.

Unfortunately, this happened during the _________ rush hour. Many people who were going to work were _________ to go home. Some battled to _________ a taxi or to get on a bus. Still others faced the _________ bravely, walking miles to get to work.

I _________ to be one of the people on the way to work that morning. I went from subway line to subway line only to find that most _________ had stopped. After making my way _________ crowds of people. I finally found a subway line that was _________ . Unfortunately, there were so many people waiting to __________ the subway that I could not even get down the stairs to the __________. So I took the train going in the opposite direction, and then switched back to the downtown train. Finally, after what seemed like forever, the train __________ my stop. Then I had to walk several blocks in the increasingly heavy rain. When I finally got to my office, I was __________ through, exhausted and __________.

My co-workers and I spent most of the day drying off. When it was 5:00 pm, I was ready to go home. I was about to turn off my computer when I received an email from Garth, my Director:

I would like to thank all of you who made the effort and __________ reported to work. It is always reassuring(令人欣慰), at times like these, when employees so clearly show their __________ to their jobs. Thank you.

Garth’s email was short, but I learned more from that __________ message than I ever did from a textbook. The email taught me that a few words of __________ can make a big difference. The rainstorm and the traffic __________ had made me tired and upset. But Garth’s words immediately __________ me and put a smile back on my face.