Apparently, I am a "helicopter parent" – one of those moms who "hovers" over their children. I know I am very overprotective. I’m convinced that a pedophile or serial killer is lurking around every corner, ready to steal my children if I let them out of my sight for even a second. The 24-hour media culture we live in doesn’t help matters any. Intellectually, I know being so protective of my kids isn’t helping them learn how to live in the world, but sometimes I can’t help myself. I’m afraid to let them take risks, because they might get hurt.
I recently read a great book that a friend recommended called A Nation of Wimps: The High Cost of Invasive Parenting
. What an eye opener! Here’s a quote from the jacket: "Parents are going to ludicrous lengths to take the lumps and bumps out of life for their children, but the net effect of parental hyper-concern and scrutiny is to make kids more fragile. When the real world isn’t the discomfort-free zone kids are accustomed to, they break down in a myriad of ways. Why is it that those who want only the best for their kids wind up bringing out the worst in them?"
Lauren went to a birthday party on Sunday held at Fun Spot. They have go-karts, bumper cars, etc. She’s only been on go-karts a couple of times and the last time someone bumped her kart and she bit her lip and there was blood everywhere. When we got there, all her friends were on the go-karts. Driving the go-karts. By themselves. She said she didn’t want to go by herself and she wanted me to buy a wristband so I could drive her. I took a really deep breath and told her she was tall enough to go by herself. "I don’t want to go by myself! I don’t know how to drive!" We stood there for a minute watching all her friends racing by and laughing. I recognized the look on her face. "Lauren, you can do this. The gas pedal is on the right and the brake is on the left. All you have to do is push the pedals and steer the steering wheel. You can do this!"
She sat down with such a mixture of trepidation and excitement. She got all buckled in and off she went. She was driving! I was laughing and crying at the same time. As she went around the track (very slowly), all the things that could go wrong kept popping into my head. Was she going to crash? Should I have made her wear the helmet? She’s completely out of my sight now – what if something happens and I’m not there to help. Am I going to have to run out on the track to pull her from a fiery wreck?!? And then she came around the corner, both hands gripping the wheel, very intent on driving. As soon as she saw me, she broke out in an ear-to-ear grin. They went around the track for a few more minutes. When she got out, she came running over to me and said "That was TOTALLY COOL!!!!!" Yes, it was. I let go just a little bit and nothing bad happened.
On our way to the car after the party was over, she turned to me and asked "Can I drive?" Oh please, honey! Mommy needs to take this in baby steps!
Today is the beginning of our 5th Annual "Turkey Sale". What’s a turkey sale? Well, I wish every product we picked was a winner, but some of them are turkeys. And there is no room for turkeys in the Scrap Your Trip warehouse! So, there are over 1,300 "turkeys" marked down to 40% off. But…1,100 of them we have 25 or less on hand. On the first day of last year’s turkey sale, we sold out of more than 75% of the items. Don’t put them in your wish list or your registry – chances are they will be gone by the time you get back. We will be removing things from the site as quickly as we can, so if something was in your shopping cart and then it’s not, it’s because we sold the last one. If two orders come in for something and we only have one – the item will stay on the first order in and we will issue a credit to the second person. I’m looking forward to getting these "turkeys" out of the warehouse. Our holiday products are starting to arrive (Basic Grey Wassail came in yesterday) and they need a shelf to call home. Click here to get started:
http://www.scrapyourtrip.com/clearance.html.
As always, thanks for your business!
Julie Swatek, President
Scrap Your Trip®
www.ScrapYourTrip.com
‘cuz life is a trip worth scrappin’®
November 5th, 2008
