Look at my little boy getting ready to ride away on that roller coaster train! Those seats don't look very secure to me, do they? Where are the over-the-shoulder harnesses? It looks like they're getting ready to watch a ball game and eat a hot dog, not go screaming down the biggest hill in the park...
That's them at the very top! If I knew how to make an arrow, I would have it pointing at the very tip top of the hill --- where my son is about to take the first big coaster ride of his life.
So many moments in parenting are just like this one! All the anxiety and uncertainty pressed into the hour it takes to move through a line you're not sure you're supposed to be in with your child. Decisions like - sending them to the nursery by themselves, sending them to kindergarten, sending them to high school, dropping them at the mall or the movies by themselves, waving goodbye as they go off to camp alone. Is it the right decision? Will they have a bad experience? Will something go terribly wrong when YOUR child is the one involved?
Thankfully the roller coaster ride results come back within 3 to 4 minutes, instead of the months or years it takes to know the outcome of other decisions we make as parents. He came off the ride saying how Totally Cool it was. Hope it always turns out like that!
Oh, this was so cute! Life is just like a roller coaster ride...I'm always saying that I'm riding an emotional roller coaster! And isn't it just like the mom to be worrying and the boy to get off the ride and declare it COOL! :) It's about that point on the second photo that I'm saying.."I changed my mind...can I get off???" tee-hee!
ReplyDeletei LOVE rollercoasters!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI took my son on The Temple of Doom in Disneyland Paris because I thought he wanted to go on it and it looked safe: the seats were facing backwards and I knew this was better for crash landings! Turns out it's more scary though when you can't see what's coming - like a loop the loop and high drops like the one you have here. Afterwards neither of us could walk! I'd had my eyes shut the whole ride, and it turned out he only did it for me!! That aside though (ahem!) don't you find you generally tend to know when they and you are ready to move on to the next stage? I've usually found it quite natural to move on, knowing it's the right time for them and me.
ReplyDeleteJanice.
Thanks, Janice for your comment - thanks everyone who chimes in on these parenting issues! Janice, you said that you usually find it to be quite natural to move on, and I'd say - Lucky You! No, I don't find it quite that easy, and have to really devote myself to prayer and to long conversations with my husband. This process for the big issues...like schooling. But no, I didn't have any trouble deciding that it was time to stop diapers, stop nursing, stop using the pacifier! All those seemed to make natural sense to me, as you suggested. I guess I've gotten more muddled as they get older!
ReplyDeleteThanks again - I'd like this to be a forum for ideas and advice on parenting. Sort of a well of resource for us with Boys Who're Turning Into MEN! Glad that you contributed to that end,
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Great post! I'm going to share this with my daughter ~ she's a new mom and recently posted on her blog about her fears of making bad/wrong decisions with her baby girl. Charlotte is 14 months old. I know she'll appreciate your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kind words about my laundry room ~ di you see the before pics? I lived with it looking pretty nasty for over 17 years ~ I love it now!
OMG! I could have never done it. Your good! happy cleaning.
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