N will be going into the 6th grade this year. She just turned 11. She has a friend that lives 3 blocks away. She has gone over there to swim and to play. Her friend has a little brother. So sometimes Cman is invited to go along.
Tonight, N took off on her bike to ride to her friends house. She will be spending the night and riding her bike home in the morning. How weird is that? It's nice that she gets to do that, but weird that she is doing it too. I mean riding her bike to spend the night somewhere? We have established rules. With the expanding circles of her life, we are evaluating rules and adjusting accordingly.
Before she left she told me that her friend likes to go to the park. I told her that once she was at her friends house, that is where she should be. I did not want her hanging out at the park. She said, "That's what I thought, so I asked now." She had also told me that her friend had wanted her to stay the night and be there unsupervised for a while, the mom had school the next day. The mother said no. She said "I didn't think you would want me to do that either." I said, no I wouldn't. So tonight when the dad wanted to go on a bike ride and leave the girls there with her little brother (cman's age), she called me to make sure she and her friend could "baby sit" the brother. They have both been "babysitting" their brothers for a little while for a few minutes here and a few minutes there. N wanted to make sure I knew what was going on and that I was okay with it. (Glad we gave her a cell phone, I don't think she would have the confidence to call if she had to ask to borrow a phone.)
Anyway, I asked her if she was okay with it. Did she feel comfortable doing that. She said, "yeah, I do. He's only going for a bike ride." I told her that was fine then and thanked her for calling me first. It's weird to be adjusting to different rules, until this year we haven't had to adjust them much. The same idea is there, but we are expanding to allow for her growing up a little bit.
As the kids show us that they are being more responsible they are getting to do a little bit more. C is starting to realize that N's world doesn't revolve around him and I am trying to encourage him to find things to do on his own and to not be bitter that he doesn't get to do what sis is doing. He spent almost 2 hours on the computer tonight! I had him read to me a story on it first! --He wasn't happy about the reading part, but he is getting into exploring www.funbrain.com I am glad for him. Computer skills are essential these days. He's learning to be okay with being left out and he's figuring out interests he has too!
3 comments:
It sounds like a brave new world for N and Cman. I don't know how I'll deal with those changes when it comes to be my turn.
Ah - bike rides in old O.P. It's a great place to be as a kid I would imagine!
I need to expand my circles here in Spain. I'm falling into the same places and the same stuff and hardly explored. Though I did go for a bike ride, I explored a little too much and went a bit too far, I almost had to call for help. Except I didn't have a phone.
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