Every week, I challenge myself to a Monday Dare. You can click on the link if you’d like to see the full list of Monday Dares or learn more about its origin.
This week: Cut the cord.
Sometimes, I still hold a mirror under Cal’s nose while she’s sleeping. The kid is 12.
I hear all these great things about giving your kid some space to grow, so I decided to give it a go recently by leaving Cal home alone for 47 minutes. I needed a new bottle of Goo Gone, and instead of dragging her to Target, where she gets preoccupied for long periods of time in the dollar section, I cut the cord.
When I got home, she gave me a long hug and said words that a child should probably never have to say to a parent- “Mommy, I hope you don’t go to jail.”
Jail?
“Grandma called while you were gone. I bragged that you left me at home alone, and she told me that was against the law.”
This from the woman who, on a family trip to Las Vegas, gave me twenty dollars and asked me to amuse myself for the afternoon while she played nickel slots. She also thought it best not to give me a room key…in case I lost it and some deviant soul picked it up, figured out which room it opened, and robbed us. I wandered the MGM Grand, had myself a nice little tuck-in at the buffet, bought a Highlights magazine, and befriended a janitor. Good times for a 10-year-old.
If you ever need to inject a little fun into your life, try calling your 60-year-old mother and opening with the line, “Don’t get it twisted, homegirl.” See how the rest of *that* conversation unfolds. Don’t worry, she’s still talking to me, but she does have a suspicious glint in her eyes now.
I’ve left Cal home alone several times since, but it’s always nerve-wracking, and I can’t focus on what I’m doing. I always thought I’d be a cool parent, but clearly, if left to my own devices, I am anything but.
Did you have overprotective parents? Are YOU an overprotective parent?
image via knockknock.biz
