Letting go

As I mentioned in my last blog, it was hard saying goodbye to our daughter who is now on the other side of the country.

"Time heals" as they say. (Whoever they is?) And certainly knowing she is enjoying herself and settling into a new experience helps us start to feel okay about it all. We still miss her and have moments of sadness that she's not here but not as frequent as last week.

The point here is that as parents we need to let go. Our job is to provide an encouraging, nurturing environment that helps our children or teens to spread their wings.

An acquaintance of ours, when I spoke of our daughter leaving for the year in the Katimavik program stated emphatically that she just wouldn't let her children go. She is at a stage of her children being years away from such a time but it is worrisome to me that parents inhibit their children's need for autonomy by restricting or prohibiting them from participating in similar programs or experiences.

Too often in my experience,parents are not necessarily looking at these opportunities as beneficial to their children but detrimental to themselves or the family.Whatever age a child is, she/he needs to start to individuate and not be so enmeshed in the family that she/he misses out on some of life's greatest lessons. We do need to let go of the leash and let them explore the world on their terms.