Reading this, I thought to myself, it really is relative and we wouldn't be on this forum if we weren't helicopter parents.
First, DD has some allergies and had to advocate for herself at school since preschool and know when someone has peanut food. And has touched a surface that someone eating peanuts has touched and then rubbed her eyes, but I was standing there, saw it and when within minutes her eyes started to react, I gave her Benadryl.
But I also know that in that age of running out the back door in the morning and coming back for dinner, while my age was still in single digits, my parents were not worried, or anyone else's about how high my IQ was, or how accelerated I should be etc. You went to school, the school closest and so on and then to college. And you had summer jobs and then you graduated and left home and got a job.
I was on the phone with a friend whose daughter is turning 21. She dropped out of college a couple of years ago. Tried a few things, while the mother supported her. Now she applied and got into a specialty school in London but now doesn't want to go. The mother, my friend, had spent 4 months in her home in CA and now is back in the Hamptons and the daughter wants her to leave again.
This sounded so strange to me but is the attitude that uncommon? Now, in this case, there is serious money available, but stil the attitude of "take care of me" really scared me. Am I creating a child of the same ilk?
I just went through this crazy stressful period to get my kid into the gifted school in Toronto, when we move. And yes, she did get the spot yesterday, but I made myself insanely stressful through a move that is already stressful.
I do let her climb trees and zip down long ramps on her scooter. And she makes me crazy with her injuries, but I am constantly creating a path for her, for her education advancement etc. And at some point, I have to wind this down. I am not sure I can withdraw from letting the path coast.
