Playing by the Lake

My kids love playing in or near water. So do I, but sometimes I have to be the grown up and just keep a watchful eye. It’s hard for me to let go a bit because my kids love pushing the boundaries when they are having fun. I just want to be there to jump in if needed to try and prevent something from happening. I am still learning how to balance my anxiousness as a parent with just letting go to have some fun.

When my kids were playing by the lake, I spent the first 30 minutes watching them closely. I didn’t want them to go over the edge because even though my 5 year old knows how to swim a bit, the lake is different than a very controlled pool. My son doesn’t know how to swim and has jumped into the pool before (but luckily knows how to hold his breath for a long time and was looking up at me and wondering when I was going to pick him up). After about 30 minutes of watching (since there was not a lifeguard around), I saw that the baby needed to be put to sleep and that my wife needed some help. I decided to go help with the baby while the cousins were all playing with my kids. I told them to please be careful and slowly started to let go of my anxiousness.

I told my wife to also keep a watchful eye, but I knew they were probably going to be safe. I went on the long hike up the giant hill twice and my kids and their cousins all played near the water with my wife’s somewhat watchful eye. I get overprotective of my kids when the environment or activity is dangerous and it’s something that I need to continue to work on as a parent so that I can relax a bit more here and there. My Mom used to say that you never really stop worrying about your kids and I didn’t quite understand that growing up. Now I’m living it first-hand and that she is right. I do also know that I need to worry less and it’ll take some practice, but I’m hopefully that it will get easier as they become more responsible.