| Holly set her alarm today so she could take her friend to the mall where they planned to hang out with a boy the friend goes to school with. He didn't show up (or didn't find them) but they had fun anyway. I know this because Holly called, after they were back at the girl's house, to tell me where she was. "Is there a certain time you need me to be home?" "It's Tuesday... we're going to Helena's tomorrow. You need to be back by 1:00 tomorrow." She laughed, but I was serious. She lets me know where she is, I know the family she's with, I trust her, and there's nothing particular happening here tonight. When I was a kid, I had to be home within a few hours of leaving the house, it seemed, all the time; too often. "Be back in an hour." Why!? Just because. On pain of punishment. Cell phones do make the world a safer place in some ways, but what really makes Holly's world safe is the whole package of her honesty and good judgment and awareness. She's pretty cool. I'm glad to be her mom. "Holly's mom." That's not a bad thing to be. |  |
P.S. Holly came home at 6:15. It's not even dark yet.
ReplyDeleteHad a family reunion last weekend, and a first cousin and I were laughing about how our grandma didn't especially enjoy having us stay over (when our parents traveled without us) but then she'd wake us up at 6am and not let us play with the neighborhood kids, and we couldn't understand why, if she was so annoyed with having us there, she didn't jump at the opportunity to have us sleep late (laziness) or overstay our welcome at the neighbors' (we were *her* responsibility). It made for some tense visits! I love-love-love reading about the amazing relationships between unschooling parents and their children, it warms my heart.
ReplyDeleteI always cry when I read happy stories about unschooling families with teenagers. I hadn't really thought about why until yesterday when I read your blogpost. I realized it was because I had such a miserable time as a teenager and because my mom is still so sure that it is part of being a teenager. It is so wonderful to know that the awfulness that were my teenage years is not something that I have to watch my children suffer through. And, so, I cry.
ReplyDeleteShe IS really cool....so are your boys!:)
ReplyDeleteJalen still calls Holly his "sister friend"