empowered

The warmer weather has finally arrived in our neighborhood and it has been drawing people out of their homes and into their garages, yards and the streets. It's fun to reacquaint with people whom we have not seen in months, see how big last year's summer babies have gotten and just to be outside and get fresh air.

However, there is one part of spring that I dislike. The part where I have to sit next to my 3 year old son as he watches a slew of 6 to 9 year old boys chase around our stretch of the neighborhood with plastic guns, saying inappropriate things. Last year, Hen was easy to convince that he was too young to play with these boys. This year, it's a different story. He stood and observed for a total of 20 seconds before running to the garage and getting his own plastic squirt gun. He quickly ran to the corner of our home with the hope that he would be invited to play.

Last spring Henry didn't own any toy guns and it was then that we had to decide as parents how we felt about playing with weapons. After much thought, it was decided that it was okay to play with those types of toys; however, our dilemma was really about the language and behavior that the neighbor boys were using. Well, if we thought last year's choices were bad, this year it's only gotten worse. Is the f-bomb appropriate language for a 9 year old? Ahhh, no.

I think the difference between Henry and the majority of these kids is that parents are present. It's not that I hover over Henry, but he's only three!! I don't trust him to run free, so he's supervised. I really wish this group of boys was better supervised by parents (one dad can't do it all) because I know these boys would make better choices.

And that's what it boils down to--making better choices. I don't believe Henry is too young to learn how to surround himself with people who make good choices. So we went searching for someone to play with and we didn't need to look too far. On our short hunt and later over dinner, we talked with Henry about how important it is to surround yourself with people who make good choices. One day he will want to hunt with his dad and Papa, and when that time comes, he will be properly trained how to safely use artillery. As for right now, I can't help but believe that allowing him to play with older kids, exposing him to bad language and inappropriate behavior would do him any good. He has plenty of time to find out all about that on his own without the presence of his mother. And it's at that point, that I hope he will have been empowered enough to make the right choices.