Lesson #1: Letting go

My girlfriend came to my home yesterday, always a good time to be away from the children once in a while. They are getting to be aspiring adults and are asking for trust and the opportunity to prove that they can handle themselves while she is away. Joyce is more than a little nervous about the whole idea, but some experimentation seems to be in order, weaning the parent away from the kids, so to speak.

Dennis had a tutoring appointment in a town that is a two hour trainride away. He's being tutored in mathematics by a friend of ours who happens to be amazing with the subject. She combines math and music, something I would have never thought possible. So in the morning Joyce made sure Dennis had his trainticket and passport, knew where to go and how to get there. She expressed concern about his ability to make the trip and to change trains in the right place. I thought she was daft, the child is 16 for crying out loud. I was soon proved wrong by a phonecall from his tutor: "At what time could she expect Dennis?"

High alert, where is Dennis? Seconds later the phone rang again: "Yo, mom, is it normal for the train to take almost three hours to go to Ede?" He had missed his transferpoint and was about an hour beyond where he needed to be... and convinced he was in the right train and not about to get off! It took some convincing on our part to make it clear to him that he'd overshot his goal and to take the train back! He took almost 5 hours to make the 2hour trip. Joyce let go a sigh of relief when he was finally at our friends house.

"And this is the kid that wants to go to Brazil this summer?"
I guess it's good practise (long overdue) to let him do stuff on his own.

"You've got to hold on tightly, let go lightly, it's only surrender, it's all in the game" Lyrics by: John Denver