Parenting or robbery?

Kids grow up. Fast.

Mine reach the age of exams.
Real exams, leading to first diplomas.

Parents know what happens in that context:
We want them to succeed.

I definitely want them to succeed.

Not for me. For them.

For the confidence it will give them in their abilities.
For the doors it will open for them on their path.

So, as (almost, I guess) parents do:

I encourage them.
I support them.
I push them.

I try not to do it too much, but it’s a fine line between doing your parenting job and starting to be a control freak.

And control is an illusion.

Kids will do what they’ll do.
I can’t do it for them.
I must not do it for them.

At some point, that’s over-protection. And over-protection is robbing them of their own experience building. The kind they need to make sound choices.

So, I try to back off.

Not easy, to say the least.

But loving them is also letting them be.