I CAN DO IT MYSELF!

I can DO IT myself!

There comes a time in each of my children’s lives when they decide they are big enough to do things for themselves. The more kids you have, the younger they feel they can tackle the world. Everytime they go through one of these I call say they are “stretching their wings.”

All three of my kids have been in various forms of this for the past several months. Molly has decided that she can buckle her own seat belt. Not only is it sad enough for me that she is out of a car seat and into a booster, but now she doesn’t even need me to buckle her in anymore. Gone are the days when I buckle the belt and give her a kiss on the forehead while telling her how amazing she is! Of course it also means I need to plan an extra 5 minutes each time we leave the house for her to “do it MYSELF.” The funny thing is that even though she can now do a lot for herself…but there are many things she just doesn’t want to do. I am still useful!

Zachary is stretching his wings and trying to fly the nest. It turns out he doesn’t really need me at all anymore, except when it comes to cooking for him, cleaning up after him, doing his laundry and driving him places. He doesn’t really need my rules or my expectations either. And it is SOOOO unfair when I expect him to do chores around the house without paying him. I mean who does work without getting paid? However, I do recognize that he is getting older and so he was granted the privilege of lighting off fireworks this year. Much to my dismay, I found him and his neighborhood buddy roasting marshmallows over a campfire they made from the garbage of the remaining fireworks they decided to fire off by themselves on Monday morning. He is lucky he can still sit down!

Colin really is big. I don’t like to admit that he is growing up and away from me. I, as previously discussed in the story where he didn’t come home from school, fear what the world may do to him when I let him totally free from me. I admit that I have let go of a lot of that fear and allow him some age appropriate freedom. But, I still hold onto my fear when it comes to public bathrooms, even though I realize that a nine year old is no longer appropriate in a woman’s bathroom. I thought I might be safe at a park the other night while we watched an older cousin’s baseball game since no one seemed to be around. However, a few minutes after we entered the woman's restroom, a gaggle of girls walked in to Colin washing his hands and tormented him over his faux pax. The embarrassment he felt was magnified onto me when I saw his face and I am now willing to consider allowing him to be a boy and use the appropriate restroom.

I can DO IT MYSELF! They have been saying these words to me for years and it is amazing how much they have grown and changed because I can stand back and allow them to at least try.