beside myself on the rocks

While going through some summer photos, I came across these, and started to remember this day that we went to the harbour.  It was the end of summer, and extremely hot.  I was hovering around my kids, paranoid, as they wondered along the rocky shoreline.  I must have sounded like a broken record, with the constant repetition of "be careful", and "don't go so fast".  A stranger looked at me like I was crazy, and I realized that at that moment, maybe I was sounding a little too paranoid.

I wonder if, as a parent, our behaviour towards our kids are based on the type of audience we have. Do we try to sound like “authoritative” figures when a judgmental stranger watches? I know some people would say that they don’t really care about what others think, but deep down, those are the very people who really do care.

I’ll admit it. Sometimes I use other’s reactions as a social monitor of sorts, to determine whether or not I am being too lenient or too harsh. It’s sometimes a person’s arm’s length perspective that can give me a reality check…that maybe I shouldn’t be so paranoid, even if at times, we seem to live in a world of doom and gloom. That when my kids want to climb on (relatively) safe rocks around the shoreline to get a better view, that they have the ability and courage to do so. And I don't need to hover, nag or worry.  Just let them be and trust their instincts.

I think the hardest part of being a parent is letting go. Maybe I need to learn to let go a little.

Or sometimes I wonder if I should just drink more.

Fruit Daiquiri

Ingredients

1/2 cup of ice

6 cups of frozen berries (strawberries, blueberries, even mango!)

1/2 cup of powdered sugar

3/4 cup of rum

Preparation

Blend the frozen fruit with sugar until the mixture becomes slushy.  Add rum.  Drink.