How do you discipline a kid for whom her own actions are as inexplicable to her as they are to you? How do you move forward when the lessons built into the situation haven't been learned, by any of the parties involved? How do you face a future where your kid's independence is due to be recognized by the law far earlier than is appropriate, or even feasible? And how far should you go to take pieces of that legal independence away from them? You can tell yourself it's for their own good, and you can even mean it and be completely correct, but that doesn't diminish the feeling that you're taking something precious away and stealing from them the thing that they, and you, have always valued and dreamed of the most.
Thank you. This is very well said.
ReplyDelete