I am THRILLED today to have my very FIRST guest blogger!
I am even more thrilled that it is one of my favorite bloggers!
I love reading Meri's blog because I can relate to her so well. She is someone I look to for advice with raising more then one Type 1 kid. (by the way, Meri is raising 3 boys with Type 1!) When I read her blogs, I feel like she is quite often taking the words right out of my mouth and putting them on "paper in a way I could never do.
Enjoy her post today!
Simple.
Nothing seems simple anymore.
When I was a kid, things were simpler than they are now.
When I was a kid, running around town at the age of 6, buying Lemon Heads and Alexander the Grapes for 5 cents a pop was simple.
But now…simple has gone out the window.
My 7 year old can’t even go to the mailbox without me watching him.
Simple has made way to cautiousness…and when you have three children with diabetes…cautiousness rules.
At least I thought it did.
For years and years and years I have been cautious about everything. Where my children go, how my children go, why my children go…anywhere.
Sure, I sound overprotective…but I would have to say I’m more on Team Cautious, than Team Overprotective.
But what happens when one of your T1 boys turns into a teenager, and asks for things like, ((((GASP,)))) freedom???
There is nothing simple, or cautious about that.
Trusting your teen to take over and actually captain Team Cautious is a risky undertaking. It takes something called trust. Trust is hard to come by when you have spent the last 13 years second guessing every decision that you have made. Trusting your child is uber hard when you can’t even trust yourself.
Trusting your child is like saying, “I trust everything will be ok.”
How can I say that? How did I even write that?
What is a mother to do?
Well, I can tell you what I did…
I closed my eyes and jumped into the unknown.
I jumped and TRUSTED that I did all I could to prepare him for freedom.
I gave him every tool I had, and coupled with his tool, “intuition,” I had to let him fly.
And so he does. He is “flying” at scout camp as I write this.
One of the scout leaders came home early and called to tell me that my son is doing great. He had one little low, but sucked down some juice and was good to go.
It has been gone 4 days, he has 4 more to go…and I’m closing my eyes and TRUSTING him. And trusting that no matter what happens, all will be well.
After all, what good are guardian angels if we don’t lean on them once in awhile?
I miss simple.
But sometimes jumping and trusting can yield exhilarating results.
It can make my son feel “normal.” Scout camp for him, today, is simple.
And that is worth me taking a leap of faith.
9 comments:
I am finding that this independence thing is seeping into everything these days...oy!
I am 99.99% sure I am sending Q and her brother to day camp for a week at the end of the summer. It's going to be hard to let go and let people who aren't really trained take care of her. But she is so incredibly excited when she hears me talk about it. I want her to have that little bit of freedom like other kids.
Meri is SIMPLY amazing! This brought me to tears...especially this week.
Amen Meri! Letting our kids, D and non-D go and fly and be themselves, freedom and all, is what it's all about. Thanks for a great guest post and for having her Heather!
This post brought me to tears. I pray I will have the courage and faith to do what you did. I want so much for Joshua to be able to be free to do whatever he wants. Right now he is 2 and crying when we leave Jackson (5) at VBS. It is hard to even think about leaving him with anyone who hasnt been "trained" I know it isnt the same as overnight camp but I pray when the time comes Ill have the "trust" "strength" and "faith" that you do! THANKS for a great post!
Meri, I'm so proud of you. As a woman who's had type1d since I was 7, I remember taking over TeamCautious and flying with the freedom/control my mom and dad gave to me. It's so important to our development to be given the skills and tools, and the trust, to manage our lives w/D, as normally as we can. As mom of a 5yo (Type Awesome, non-D) now, I don't know how you amazing d-parents do it, but I'm so glad you do. Thank you.
Another amazing post, as always Meri!
It's hard to think what we and they could be missing if we didn't start letting them go! Not easy, for sure, but well worth it. :)
whew, I feel blessed to have all you ladies to learn from - when it's my turn to let loose and have Isaac go places I know there will be so many great pieces of advice to rely on from all of you. I can't wait to hear how the rest of scout camp went :)
I use to ride my bike to the corner store and buy Sugar Daddy's and Charlston Chews. I loved those things.
Freedom is a scary thing. I think we would be scared to let them go either way... its just a mama thing.
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