The struggle is real, that’s for sure. After homework do they go outside and dissappear until dinner time? Asking because that was the rule for me as a child except that homework time was after dinner time.

When my daughter learned to ride a bike I insisted that she ride off on it and have some adventures, chewing my nails the whole time she was gone. She complied but it wasn’t something she really wanted to do so I let up on it. What a relief! If I’d let myself go I would have been a helicopter parent.

It’s scary when they are out of sight because “something” might happen. But if they don’t get out of our sight how will they learn self reliance or resilience? I guess I got my daughter out of sight enough because her adult self is definitely resilient and self reliant. I used to send her up to the end of the street alone to wait for the school bus. Nor was I waiting when she got off. Sometimes I’d wonder were she was and walk up to find her playing in the sand by the side of the road. (Boosting her immune system!) Some people thought I was utterly insane. I see parents drive their kids to the bus stop and wait with them in the car until the bus comes. This on streets that are even shorter than mine. To me that’s just weird. There are jurisdictions where you can be prosecuted if your child is unsupervised. The “keeping our children safe” pendulum swung to far for sure, and it’s encouraging that some parents like you are trying to bring some balance back into their children’s lives. Sorry for going on so long.