Mother of an 8th grader

    So this morning got on to a great start. The boy actually woke up on his own with his alarm! We headed off to school only to be stopped by the 10million other parents who wanted to drop little Jane and Johnny off to school on their first day. (Note: I drive him in as a choice every morning, not just 1st day) So 2miles and 30minutes later....We arrive at school!

    Maybe I'm weird, but we have been doing this for 9yrs now, so there are no tears, no walking in to his first class or any of the other Elementary School stuff. I find it odd that there are still moms who do this stuff past Elementary School. There has to come a time that you let your kid/s go; let them be their own person. I don't believe in making your kids dependent upon you for their whole lives. In order for a child to learn, you have to let them explore and make their own mistakes.

    Why do some mothers find it so hard to let go? Is it their own insecurities that causes them to hang on for dear life? Did their mother's not give them enough attention, so they over do it with their own? Or is it that they simply have lost their own identity when they became mothers?

    Don't get me wrong, I love my son with all my heart! I had a very loving mother as a child. It wasn't until I was a teenager, that things went sour. I, of course, was a typical teen and did and said stuff that was way out of line. My mom was dealing with a sick husband and a teenager that thought she knew it all and then some. But I know without a shadow of a doubt that she loved me and only wanted the best for me. I also know that if she ever said anything negative to me it was out of the stress of losing her husband to a disease that was incurable. There are many things I wish I could go back and do differently so that she wouldn't have had such a tough time raising me, but then I would not be the wife, mother, and friend I am today.

    I never talked to my mom about her relationship with her mother. I do know that her mom died when they were very young, of cancer, so she was raised by her dad and step-mother. I can remember that as a middle sister, she never felt she measured up to her other siblings. She often yelled and cursed at us kids, but she gave all she had to make sure that we were taken care of. I try to be a little better by not yelling at my son, or cursing at him. I tell him all the time that I love him and how proud I am of him. It is hard enough being a teen and I don't want him to ever think for one minute that he isn't loved. I feel as parents, that is the one thing that we should strive to do, be better parents. No one strives to be worse than their parents were. (Or at least I would hope they don't)


    So for all you mommies out there, Please put little Jane and Johnny on the bus and let go already. It doesn't make you cool to be strolling the halls of the middle school looking like a Cougar.

~2miles in 30minutes