Anyone who knows me will assure you of one thing: I am not a secretive person. I live life in shop window display of my own choosing. I’m not the type to keep things to myself, or protect my privacy. It’s not even a conscious decision on my part. I just share out of the openness of my soul. It’s who I am.
Some say that I am not discriminating enough, that some things are not meant for sharing. I think this is a valid criticism. However, it is just not in my nature to be any other way. While I do work at keeping certain details about my life private, and strive to protect my privacy, the moment my vigilance slips, some little detail comes slip-sliding its way out of my mouth to the detriment of my public persona. And to that I say….c’est moi!
As for jeopardizing my children's safety by the post below...I don't buy it. Their safety is jeopardized by the fact that they are home alone, but are they any less safe waiting for me in our apartment watching TV than they are riding their bikes to the library for a two hour book-browse?
Living life entails that we take risks with our children. Every time they go to spend the night at someone's house, they are at risk for being molested or being left behind in a house fire. That is part of living. We let them go after talking to the parents, after getting to know the child, after talking with our little offspring about what to do if something goes wrong. And then we watch them go. Maybe we have fear in our heart watching them walk into a strange house. Maybe we sleep a little less soundly that night. But at least we know we prepared them, and we just hope for the best.
Teaching children to be independent is about allowing them to step into areas of responsibility and experience the ups and downs of being out on a limb. This is something that is done thoughtfully and with much guidance. I am not the type of parent to shove my kids in the deep end of the pool without first being sure they not only know how to tread water, but that we've done it a little together. I've SEEN them do it and they KNOW they can do it. Then, when we are down on that deep end of the pool, I'll say, "Ok, in you go!" and they'll be ready for it. And maybe - just maybe - they'll enjoy it a little, too.
And after all, isn't it the goal to raise independent kids who can enjoy life and successfully face the risks life requires of us?
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8 comments:
why is this such a big issue. An hour a day..60 minutes. They will be FINE!
You do blab alot..and sometimes about the wrong things. That's part of your charm. I just don't like it when you blab to people who get paid to be funny.
I do wish you'd blab about some other things that may or may not be going on in your life.
Oh yeah, like what may I ask? :)
I have no announcements as of yet.
My privacy policy is slightly different, yet I don't think you're jeopardizing your kids safety either. Plus you know how I feel about anonymous comments and remarks...
I think you keep the safety line pretty neat, espescially as you are no where on earth... That would require a rocket scientist, and hopefully he/she would find easier means to abuse children if he/she wanted to...
Does W know you have a blog? Remember the letter incident.
I think Grace and Emily will be fine, we've done a similar thing with Chantze, however, we felt it was prudent to not advertise when he would be home alone.
I wouldn't trust some of my best friends with information like that.
All is well. 'Nuff said.
Brian and I have left Christopher home alone. Never more than 2 Hrs. He is 10 yrs old(though he doesn't look it) I can understand some peoples objection to you posting it on a blog though.
I am able to be there as company and moral support after school on certain days, and while I think independence is an excellent thing to learn, I also feel there has to be a good "just in case" procedure in place. As for W, he has left them with people he barely knew but trusted because they had money and went to his church. Without going into details, let's just say it wasn't a wise choice.
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