Exclusive | Helicopter parents spending thousands for Rent-A-Moms to cook, clean for helpless adult kids

Chicken soup? Check.Birthday balloons? Delivered.

Laundry? Don’t even think about it.In Alabama, Carrie Eckhardt spends hours lovingly simmering chicken soup for a college student with the sniffles, taking occasional breaks to wash and fold laundry.In St.Louis, Mindy Horwitz is on balloon-and-birthday-card duty, making a dorm-room delivery for a student whose big day might otherwise go uncelebrated.But neither parent is tending to her own child.

They’re on the payroll of parents who may have waved goodbye at the dorm but aren’t quite ready to retire from mothering.Welcome to the world of the “Rent-A-Mom,” where helicopter parenting goes long-distance — and someone else gets paid thousands to hover.“Rent-a-Mom” services are booming in college towns across the country.What began with local women offering advice on Facebook or giving students rides has evolved into homespun businesses catering to undergrads living thousands of miles from home.College is often a young person’s first taste of freedom.

But these “proxy moms” are building businesses around students’ need for a safety net — and pushing back against critics who say they’re coddling Gen Z.The women insist they’re not spies reporting back to parents at home, but a local support network for students navigating life on their own.UnitedHealthcare released data earlier this year that 69% of college students said they experienced a mental or behavioral health concern in the past year.

College students also reported higher overall incidences of mental and behavioral health concerns compared to their peers not enrolled in college.Rent-A-Moms are there to alleviate stress on college newcomers who are on their own for the first time.

Navigating a new campus and college workload is tough enough – why not pay someone to pick up medicine when you’re sick?Eckhardt — dubbed the “Bama Mama” — is a former Uber driver near the University of Alabama who turned chauffeuring students...