Unleashing

I understand that as our kids grow, the leash on our kids becomes longer and longer. I have known several Dads who have shown this as reality. And I have done some releasing of my own leash throughout my brief time as Dad. How do we know the timing of leash lengthening? Certainly the individual child plays a role here, and there are rites of passage which can drive changes in the policing of our kids' well being and decision making (The driver's license—the 18th birthday—when they get their own place). And also, there are times/stages when new and different policing takes place of an old model.

I believe we are given the duty as parents to train our children for life on their own. Life as an adult. This is where the counsel of spouses, friends and mentors can play a key role. Not only to provide us with experiential wisdom and recommendations, but also to challenge us as to what we truly believe and perceive.

These times of unleashing are sort of "Proverbs moments" in our lives. According to the current go-to-to-define-anything, Wikipedia, it states, Throughout Proverbs, wisdom is compared and contrasted with foolishness....Wisdom is held up as something worth effort to attain. As a parent—hoping to share wisdom and train/teach/manage our kids, these "Proverbs moments" are cause to examine things such as:

• Ourselves
• Our own motives
• Our kid's motives
• Our faith in God towards His protection of our kids
• Our own role as parent and situational steward
• Our trust in our child rearing and teaching to a certain age
• Our consistency of our own prayer life
• And more

I recently had a conversation with a couple of more veteran Dads. One of these guys is considering releasing the leash a little longer. It really had me examining the "what would I do" of it all. I left the conversation with a jocular gladness that I wasn't facing this other Dad's decision. But it also left me also with a glimpse into the types of decisions to come....sheesh.