It sounds like the ultimate in helicopter parenting—not to mention the ultimate bad idea. If your fashion-design major daughter can’t get a job, why not buy her one? The Wall Street Journal is reporting on what might be a recession trend: parents “giving their kids the business.” Buying a “Pita Pit” (surely the subliminal 90210 reference is intentional; who could resist the mental image of Brenda’s dad handing over the keys?), a “College Hunks Hauling Junk,” or a “Fibrenew” franchise for a jobless kid is one way to stave off unemployment and hope to help your heirs beat the sentence of doom and gloom that the downturn seems to have brought upon them. (Who hasn’t read the reports that a slow start to a career could cost big over a lifetime of earnings?)

Read the rest on Slate’s XX Factor.