Learning to Let Go
Fine. You got me. I’m not a good free-range parent. Like not even a little bit. I’ve even been called a helicopter mom. Ugh. I’m so NOT a helicopter mom. I guess my parenting style is somewhere in the middle. Do I believe in letting him figure things out on his own? Yes. Is he allowed to make his own choices? Definitely. At the end of the day, one of my many tasks as a mom is to keep him safe. So far. So good!
I’m happy to report that we’ve had a couple of major breakthroughs over the past couple of weeks.
Ben’s hockey team played in the championship game and like any good Hockey Mom, I was in search of an airhorn. After they won their semi-final game, the phone calls and Facebook messages started. Can you believe that I had a hard time finding an airhorn at 6PM on a Saturday night? Who knew! Thankfully we found one. Phew! And our friend (a police officer) conveniently lives right down the street. Before I knew it, I was asking Ben if he wanted to walk down the street with Rocky to grab it. Wait – what? Who am I? So off he went. I watched carefully out the window until I could no longer see him. Aaaah. Sure enough, after what seemed like 3 hours, he returned with the airhorn and a huge smile on his face. He was so proud of himself and I was the cool Mom for letting him go. Check off a big W in the win column for me!
Just a boy and his dog.
We do love our neighborhood. Our place is small but cute, has a fenced-in yard and is located on a dead-end street. It’s the perfect spot to shoot pucks in the driveway and play catch in the yard. The only issue – not a lot of kids playing outside. Long gone are the days when kids are outside playing until the street lights come on. I barely see kids outside anymore. Anywhere. Where did they all go? Inside playing video games? Glued to the TV? Most likely. So, when Ben asked to shoot hoops with the kid down the street, I did a little happy dance. We’ve seen this kid outside before but this was the first time Ben asked to join him. Off he went. Again. I started dinner and kept an eye on him through the kitchen window. And guess what? He came back. Again! Well – what do you know?! Looks like I might be turning into a free-range parent after all.
