Pool time...and letting go.

Evie went swimming in her pool for the first time over the weekend.  The water was chilly, but she loved every second of it.  She crawled all around the pool, splashed water everywhere and kept putting her face in the water.  She was a crazy lady!  She tried to get out of the pool and ended up straddling the side.  Well, once she did that and figured out that she could bounce around, it was over.  That was ALL she wanted to do.  No matter how many times I told her no and put her back in the pool, she would not sit still.  She would go right back to bouncing.  Finally I decided to pick my battles and gave up.  She wasn’t going to hurt herself if she fell and I was right there, so I just let her go.  It’s hard for me to do this sometimes – let her go.  Now that she’s starting to walk, she constantly bumping her head and bumping into things.  I want to protect her from everything that could ever hurt her, but I know that I if I don’t let her fall a few times, she’ll never learn to pick herself back up.  I think that Pat and I both have parents that did this for us.  They let us fall and make some mistakes, but they were always there to help us if we needed them.  That’s the kind of parent I want to be for Evelyn.  I don’t think I realized just how hard it would be and I have even more respect for our parents now.  Letting go is hard.  I can barely handle it at 14 months so it’s a good thing that school is still a few years away for Evelyn.  It’s hard to think about letting Evie out into the big world without me.  It’s hard to think of her facing the things that children today face.  It’s enough to make me want to homeschool her.  Letting go is hard, but it’s also necessary and worth it.  I hope that by letting go, Evie learns to be confident and strong.  I hope that she learns to make good decisions and that her actions have consequences.  I hope that she learns that it’s ok for her to make her own choices, but that sometimes mom and dad really do know best.  I hope that she learns that no matter what happens, we will ALWAYS love her and accept her for who she is.  Yes, letting go is hard and I’m glad I don’t have to do it all at once.  For now, I’ll just let her bounce in her pool and stay close by in case she needs me to catch her.