Not Helicoptering

My son is in the mountains with my parents this week.  My mother has planned a jam-packed week for my son, designed to keep him busy, entertained and of course tired out by the end of the day so he falls asleep without a complaint.

My son is sleeping in a king-sized bed for the first time.   Or maybe it’s a queen bed.   Never mind, it’s big.   I told him he was going to sleep on the softest sheets he’d ever slept on before, after he told me he didn’t want to sleep in a big bed and he was going to miss us at home.   I explained to him that the sheets were made of bamboo fibers and I couldn’t wait to hear what he thought about them when he got home.

With luck, friends of our from town who have a vacation home on the same street as my parents are also visiting this week.   They have a daughter who’s a year younger than my son.  They got together today to go zip lining, play in the park and attend an art class at the local art museum.   My son enjoyed every bit of the day as evidenced by the pictures Mary Louise was sending as the day progressed.

I talked to my mother today and she told me everything went very well.  We also talked about parenting (or child watching/managing) and my mother did a great job of not “helicopter parenting” as the saying goes.   She told me she just sat back and let him have fun—just as it should be, I agreed.

We were on the phone at the end of the night.  My daughter wanted to monopolize Mimi’s time playing games and singing to her.   When we asked if we could speak to Greyson he got on the phone and said about two sentences.   The next thing I knew, my father was saying, “hello?”   It turned out that was all my son wanted to say, so he handed the phone over to Gramps and went his own way.   It would appear he’s not missing us at all.

The Big Boy Update:  At the zip line today my son zipped by Mimi twice.   On the third time he passed her he yelled out, “I’m a natural!”

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter was unhappy about the door being removed from their bedroom as a consequence to it being slammed.  Tonight the door was added back but it startled her because it was noisy.   We gave her a hands-on tour of how doors work, including the hinges and pins, so she could understand what we’d done and why it had made such a clatter as we re-installed it.