Lately, Jada has been fixated on college. No, she is not a prodigy or a wanna-be sorority sister. You see, independence is everything for Jada right now. She wants to walk to school by herself, shower by herself, play with her friends by herself. Not in a rebellious way, but in a natural, "I want to separate myself from my parents because I am growing up" way. And, in her limited mind, college is the apex of independence: you can do whatever you want, whenever you want, and there's nothing about it that you're not calling your own shots on.
All true. But with independence comes responsibility, and the need to learn wisdom to make good choices and avoid bad ones. This is, in my mind, the primary job of the parent, is to impart this wisdom. To be sure, we need to make choices for our kids, as appropriate. But our desired outcome is that they learn how to make their own choices. Because while college is a long ways away, Jada's path to independence from us has already started, and you better believe it matters to me and Amy what she does with that independence. Let's hope we're teaching her well.
No comments:
Post a Comment