“She plays the mother role and treats him like a child who wouldn’t know what to do without being told.” (ODAT, 11 October)
This can play out in sponsorship.
The sponsee phones with a complaint about something, and the sponsor responds with a suitable answer. In most cases, the sponsee already knows the answer. Every time this happens, the sponsees infantilises themselves even further and makes it harder to come to the solution the next time. The problem is further embedded in the sponsee; the solution is more firmly located in the sponsor.
Sometimes after a sponsor repeatedly turns a question back on a sponsee who does in fact have the ability to apply the programme, think it through, and arrive at a solution, the sponsee says, “But if you’re not going to answer my questions, what’s the point in sponsorship?”
That’s a reasonable question.
But the answer to that lies also lies within the sponsee.