Parent Paranoia

It's hard these days to be a parent. When I think of the things I did as a kids, like riding me bike to school with just friends in first grade, I don't know why I am still alive. The world seems much more dangerous to me somehow these days. Or maybe it's not and it's just the view from the mommy chair that makes it seem so. Anyway, I read a post over on yahoo about a mother who couldn't bear to let her 7 year old daughter out of her sight, including when she showered, used the bathroom or slept. My apologies right now if that was someone reading this post. I don't like to judge other mommies. We are all doing the best we can under our circumstances. Still this seemed over the top to me. After all, the goal of raising a child is ulimtately that they can go out into the world and do without us. That's right, if you do your job well, you will have raised a person who can survive in the world without you. Hard to think about when your kids are small and need you for everything and seem so fragile. Mine are school aged. AGB is 11. I let him ride his bike 3 blocks (alone) to a friends house to play baseball last week. He called when he got there. Big step for me. Still he thought it was cool and that he was a big, responsbile guy. It makes it a little easier for me that he is super level headed and a little timid. I figure baby steps. Teaching kids to be independant is a balencing act today. We need to protect and keep them safe and yet teach them how to protect themselves and keep themselves safe.