Fervor

My mind is dancing with thoughts after I stumbled upon this article. What am I getting myself into? I am I ready to be the parent of a teenager? Am I ready to parent him the way I think is best for him knowing that there are so many people out there that are doing the same thing completely different? I am scared. I want him to learn that you get what you work for.

I read a similar article in the Globe and Mail at the end of the summer. The week after we moved, E attended a day camp at the Toronto Zoo. C was off work that week and since E wanted to be a vet at the time, we figured this would be the perfect, albiet only time we would ever easily be able to comute from Oakville to Scarbouroughon a daily basis. As we piled into the car to spend a day in the east end of Toronto, I would read articles out loud. Out from behind the terrible stories of hurricane Katrina, one article has particularly stuck into my memory. It talked about 'helicopter parents' who have become an increasing problem to universities over the past few years.

"One Canadian university has handed out geraniums to serve as surrogate children for anxious parents. Another is running an Internet chat room to assist those agonizing about leaving their offspring on campus. And a U.S. school has even gone so far as to employ bouncers to keep fretful parents at a safe distance."

As I subtly mentioned above, I want the very best for E, to have all the opportunities he can. I will do my best to help him make the best decisions for him. I also want him to LEARN from his experiences. I know he will be great at whatever he decides to do but will he have a harder time getting there because Mom is watching his back rather that hovering over head, attending frosh week with him and calling potential employers?

I always thought that I had one thing on my side as E became an adolescent. It really hasn't been that long since I was there myself. But I can't get over how much things have changed in such a short period of time.

I have always been an incredibly compeditive person. Will I be a strong enough parent not to interfere? The guilt is still there for helping that bit too much on last terms social studies project.

I have no idea where E will be 12 years from now. His idea of what that is changes as fast as the seasons if not faster. Heck, I had no idea 12 years ago that I would be lucky enough to end up where I am today. Thank goodness I have such supportive parents that allowed be to make all the mistakes I did. And although I made many decisions that they didn't always agree with, I know I would not be the person, mother, or wife that I am today with out the life lessons I was forced to learn.