New Responsibility

What do the kids want most of all this summer? Freedom.

Freedom to make their own meals, freedom to choose their own clothes (though the act of getting them ON is something they'd still like help with), and freedom to wander the neighborhood without Mom or Dad tagging along.

Requests 1 and 2 are easy to grant.... request 3 is going to be hard for me. The kids can go around the block currently with a friend, with each other, or with the dog. Jacob this afternoon asked if he could go alone. I said OK. A few minutes later the neighbor across the street came over to ask if I knew he was in the street on Meadow Grove (the busier street that parallels ours). I said he was exploring the block.

But it was nice to know that the neighbors look out for the kids too. I see pretty soon it's going to be "can I go to the park?" or "can I take the long walk." Ack..... we're so happy to see them start walking when they are 1. Little do we know this is what it leads to - around the block, to the park, with their friends, in a car...... can I skip this part???

Perhaps I'll create a new mantra "I will not be a helicopter parent, I will not be a helicopter parent."