For the whole school year our boys have wanted a chance to walk home. Now we only live about 3 miles from their school and it is a direct route without crossing a major traffic intersection. However, this has been a hard request to accommodate for me.
-If you're like me you've checked websites like Megan's Law. As a parent this is a reality of a fear we have and a concern we think about.
-The question of "do my kids know what to do if...". Have I done enough coaching so their street smarts are enough to handle certain situations.
-What if they run into bullies?
-What if something freak happens and they can't get ahold of me?
These types of questions can be a mile long and create a lot of worry in how we as parents make decisions. Here are some of my thoughts on how we've handled this scenario.
We've turned this idea and request of our kids as right of passage. We talked up the big deal of us trusting them to do this as well as have specific conversations to try to help them think & be observant of their surroundings.
Yes this really is a bit scary, but I refuse to allow fear to guide my parenting & training of my kids. The fear of the "what if..." will always be evident, but unless I wrap my kids in bubble wrap, lock them in a compound and brainwash them my kids will constantly be forced to face reality and they are old enough that we have to have more specific life conversations.
It has also been an opportunity to take captive the excitement our kids have over this idea. It has been rad to see them get excited about the opportunity & trust we've given them. It also has been fun to watch them have a bragging right with their friends of what they get to do.
My boys haven't done everything we've asked perfectly and we've used the mistakes as a coaching opportunity. Coaching, training, correcting will be a constant as a parent. I want to take advantage of every opportunity I have to help my kids grow into competent adults
Just some of my learnings of letting my kids grow up.
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