This whole realization, about this "protecting" and such that we discussed earlier, has given me a new view of parenting, that you DO have to let them explore, learn, fail, succeed on their own...but be there for them to help guide them, not direct.
I used to be focused on making sure my sons would never be dependent on a partner for cooking, cleaning, sewing, etc. That they were self-sufficient in basic daily necessities. And they are now.
Now I have learned to allow them to make their own decisions, though I do point out the likely consequences of what they are wanting to do, both the good and the bad. And then let them decide and I hang in the background. They know I am there.
The last thing I want is for them to have their own MLC, and declare "I feel like a child/You treat me like a child" to their partner.
In the depths of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer. - Albert Camus
Uncertainty is the very condition which impels people to unfold their powers.-Eric Fromm
