Letting Go

Parenting is so much about letting go - at the right time. 

Today, we drove Aveen to Camp where he will be for two weeks.  Two weeks!  It seems like such a long time to let him go.  But.  There was no one week option for his age group.  And why do I think it is important let him go to camp at all? 

I want to let him have this experience.  To enjoy the outdoors, learn to do things like kayaking and sailing that we can't teach him, to make friends, to learn to take care of himself, to be independent.  I want my kids to learn to be independent, because it is important, and I don't think I am very independent. 

Of course, it is difficult to know exactly when they are ready and how much independence they are ready for.  Aveen went to the same camp last year for a week and had a great time.  However, he was ready to come back after the week last year.  Hopefully, two weeks won't be too long for him.  It will be long for me. 

After the longish drive today, once we got there, Aveen hugged us and said, "Okay, bye."  As in, "Please go away now," in a nice way.

Are you kidding me?  We just got here. 

As much as I wanted to stay for a swim in the lake and lunch, we settled for a walk during which we ran into Aveen again.  He gave us a look that said, "Why are you still here?"  So we finally got the hint and left.

We drove back, stopping for lunch in a cute town, shopping at A Touch of Whimsy, and taking the scenic way back.

At the pool, Amrita got pushed into the pool by accident by three bigger boys.  As she sobbed, she said, "It's funny that this happened just the day Aveen left.  Now he won't know about it for two weeks."

I'm not the only one who misses Aveen.