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How Do We Learn to Let Our Kids Go?
Maybe the secret is in what we chose to focus on
As a parent, you may have made peace with the fact that parenting is 90% laundry, dishes, driving, and worrying. Eventually, you won’t be responsible for your child’s cleanliness or transportation, but the worrying will remain.
The question is whether or not you will allow it to take over your thoughts and not leave room for any others. I have to be intentional about this. I know how I can fall into the ravine of worry and get stuck there easily.
The hardest time not to worry about your kids is when they aren’t with you.
What I’ve always wondered is, do I have it in me to do this? Letting them go to school or camp is a lot different than letting them go with no plan to return soon.
Sometimes in bed, late at night, I think of stupid or dangerous things I did when I was younger (there were many). Or I fondly recall trips I went on, without my family or any cellphone in hand, and I imagine one of my girls doing the same. My heart rate speeds up at just the thought and my eyes pop open in fear.
I marvel at how my parents were able to let me go, for months at a time. They…
