This must be my week of being stretched as a parent. We are already in the midst of working with a recruiter for my 17-year-old son who wants to join the Air Force after he graduates in June. Now my daughter has come to me with an opportunity to go to Germany next spring.
I am still trying to deal with the prospect of my oldest son leaving us. But now my daughter wants permission to leave our country in her sophomore year and spend 10 days visiting Germany, Italy and Switzerland.
This is a trip she would be taking with her German class. Of course the opportunity sounds incredible. But all I can think is 10 days without my daughter, 10 days trusting my daughter’s life to a teacher, 10 days of her being very far away.
Thankfully I still have a year to process this. We do have to start saving now, however, and get her registered. But it just seems incredible to me how fast my children are growing up.
I was also thinking about my own teen years, the dreams and aspirations that I had. My parents were pretty strict. My mother in particular was very controlling. I was never allowed to attend homecoming (something my daughter got to do a couple of months ago), nor would I have ever been allowed to visit another country.
And if I had even hinted at joining the military, forget it. I got in trouble when I was 19 years old for dropping a typing class at the technical college I was attending (and paying for).
I think my mom sometimes has difficulty with the decisions that I make with my children. She even asked me if I was going to “allow” my oldest son to join the Air Force. This is his future. This is his dream. I couldn’t imagine trying to stop it.
Being a parent means making some pretty tough decisions. But I truly believe that if we don’t try to hold on too tightly to our children, they will have more respect for us. This is just my personal experience.
Letting go is definitely hard and it can be stretching…but it’s a part of being a parent.
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