How do you know how much to let people be? How do you not gasp when you see your child falling down, even though there may be little or no injury? I'm not a mum, but I am almost sixteen years older than E. I worry about him, I yell at him to kepp him in line...and then I feel totally hypocritical beacause I strongly believe in individual choice and values. I'd like to let him be, become wild, create what he wants, not make him eat vegetables at every meal. Why do I yell at him if his room is a mess? What good is your own room if you have to keep it like other people want you to?
I often tell people that kids need to go their own way, to have uncontrollable hair, to eat too many sweets, to scream as loud as they want. Yet, I hush E, make sure his hair is flat. Do I want him to be 'of the world?' He is a social little soul and it does matter to him what people think.
I don't have all the answers. And that's the worst thing, when a child matters to you this much.