Overprotective Parents

I will be the first to admit, I am an overprotective mother. I would almost call myself an overprotective mom to the extreme. But I have met some of those moms and I don't think I go quite as far as they do. Eric started wrestling this semester at his school. I can't even go watch. I am afraid that he may get hurt. Mario has seen every match so far and it stresses him out, but he still goes to support. I feel bad because I like to support my kids in their sports, but I just don't think I can handle watching wrestling. But at least I let him wrestle. Some extreme moms probably wouldn't let their kids wrestle. In fact, some may not even let their kids attend school at all, let alone participate in after-school sports.

Yesterday the kids had a half-day of school. Eric came home and asked if he could go hang out with some high school friends from church. One is 14, the other 16. My first reaction was no way did I want him hanging out with a 16 year-old that had a car. Nor did I want him going to his house when I knew that neither parent was home. I called Mario for back-up. He provided none. I guess it is my fault. I have been telling Mario lately that we need to cut the strings a little with Eric because we don't want to send him off to college/mission after being coddled all his life. I wanted to take all those talks with Mario back. I didn't want to send my little boy off with a 16 year-old. Mario is the Priest Quorum adviser so he knows Stone well. So he thought that Eric should be allowed to hang out with them. I quizzed Eric and asked what they would be doing. He said going to lunch at McDonalds, Subway, or Chinese. Well, we have all those places within a 2 mile radius of my house. So I agreed (only because Mario told me to.) I told Eric to call if they decided to do anything afterwards. I went up to take a nap and then came down and watched a movie with the kids. Eric didn't call and I was getting a little worried. How long could lunch take? He finally came home towards the end of the movie and when I questioned what took so long, he said they went all the way into town (20 minutes away) to go for Chinese at a buffet. Good thing I didn't know that before he left or I would have said no way! Eric had a great time hanging out with his friends and I guess I am glad he got to go.

I want to let go of Eric, but it is so hard. I want to bubble-wrap him. I don't think I would be as worried if it was Erin hanging out with girls. It is the boys I don't trust. I trust Eric, but not any other boy. I think back to my childhood and I thought my parents were overprotective, but in reality, they weren't. They let me and my siblings have cars and we drove all over the place. We could say we were going out jet-skiing for the day and they would say, "Have fun." I can't even imagine saying that to Eric. I would want all the details like what parents were going, was he going to wear a life jacket, what time was he returning, etc. Not to mention he better call me every half hour to check in. I do remember when I returned from hanging out with my friends, my mom would have 20 questions waiting for me. Now as a parent of a teenager, I can understand why. Mario told me yesterday on the phone, "Make sure you have a list of questions to ask when he gets home." I may outdo my mom and have 30+ questions. My kids always call me a detective. I love it.

I think that is why I am only meant to have 4 kids. I see parents with 6,8, or 10 kids. They are so relaxed. Nothing seems to stress them. I had my dentist tell me the other day that his 7 kids build forts in the desert...barefoot. He says they step on a cactus and they just pull it out. Now I do let my kids walk through the desert and play with the air-soft guns back there. So maybe I am not too bad. I do know some extreme parents that won't let their kids step foot in the desert.

I guess I need to find a balance. I am really sad that Eric is growing up. I think I need some classes to help me deal with my anxiety as I try to make it through these teenage years.