Parental Range Checking

I’m a little late speaking up about this, mostly because it’s summer time and between work and the kids there hasn’t been much time for writing. But also because this is one of those topics that make me pause before sticking my neck out because I don’t want to be on the wrong side of it and have my readers call social services on me. I readily admit to a bit of cowardice, waiting out the online commentary to see on what side the hammer would fall. I’m still not sure where the hammer has fallen, but there is enough discussion out there that it seems safe enough to speak up and add my voice to the cacophony.

This topic is related to a previous post you can read for some background info. I recently had a vaguely similar but obviously much shallower issue of whether to let my oldest daughter stay home by herself for 30 minutes while I took my other two children to their swim lessons. We were literally a ten minute walk away, still in the neighborhood, but I still felt compelled to consult our circle of SAHMs to get their input. In the end they reassured me that as long as she was okay with it she would be fine. She was and it was, and there was no visit from social services. But the amount of stress during the decision making process and the need to consult other people I trust and obviously need approval from regarding my role as a parent will stay with me, especially since I’m not the type of person to generally care what other people think.