Yes I am back.  And I have an interesting question to pose to you all.  Right now, I am starting the process of packing up my child for her trip to college.  She is a freshman and it is her first time.  We are all a little on edge, a little nervous and a little scared.  I anticipate it all going well, even though she has about 40 pairs of shoes to find room for.  But this is her first time moving away and she is starting a new chapter in her life (that will definitely be the subject of many more posts I am sure!)

    But I was faced with the question of  "Well you aren't going to have to do this every year.  You won't have to go with her next year."  I thought to myself, "Huh?  Why wouldn't I?"  And people explained to me that she won't need me as much next year, that it will be so much easier for her.   There will be no adjustment period.  Blah, blah blah.  I said, what does any of that have to do with anything?  Why wouldn't I want to go down with her next year, if she wanted me to?  I have friends who have a child who will be a senior this year and they are taking her back to school.  I didn't think it strange at all.  Friends have said to me that I am still thinking of my daughter as a baby.  When I talk to them nd tell them of people I know who are still taking their almost graduated children up to school, they scoff and say the parents are too over-protective, and their children will never break free of these "helicoptor-type" parents.

   I don't see it that way (And funny enough, these are parents who wouldn't dream of letting their children walk around NYC and take the subways, something that both my children have bee doing for years now).  I don't see it as over-protective-ness or smothering them.  I see it as being involved and leting my child know that her parents are there for her and if she wants us we will always be there for her.  It's also what makes me comfortable and how I feel.

    What do you all think?