Now I've gone and started something. My sweet 8 year old daughter Camryn came to me tonight and said "Mommy, could I please go to the park by myself?" Trying hard not to have that "are you drunk?" expression on my face I heard the words coming out from my mouth "Sure". Argh!! Did I seriously just say yes? Now on the surface you are probably asking "Colleen is the park on the other side of a freeway? Is it in the forest next to a bears cave? What's the big deal?" For those of you who haven't yet met Camryn she is a wide eyed, energetic, wild critter of a kid. Stopping to check for cars is not in her vocabulary. The park is actually just across the street and technically because we live on a road that is a cul-de-sac she could stay on the side walk the entire way. In my defense there are two driveways into parking lots on that sidewalk and although the odds of a car actually coming down this lonely little side street is minimal I still cringe at the thought. It takes longer to put on my shoes than to actually make it to the playground but I can only imagine a surprise parade of Semi trailers coming down the street as my daughter plays Frogger on the roadway.
I go over the rules once again with her knowing full well she's only thinking about getting to the park and not hearing a word of what I'm telling her. I pretend that I didn't notice and turn my sweet car-darting child out into this 150 feet of chaos. Okay it's a pretty safe neighborhood but that's not the point!! I resisted following her which I think deserves a super sized hero cookie. One with chunks of chocolate in it. Gooey melty chunks.....Mmmm chocolate. Then before I finish my wonderful chocolate cookie fantasy she's back. Expecting for her to say that a creepy man with a big dog chased her in his truck for 4 blocks while a thunderstorm roared in and she was almost zapped by downed electrical wires she says "No kids there, I'm bored". How can she be bored after such an adventure? She crossed the street and went to the park all alone!! How is that boring? My mind raced and my heart almost stopped and she's "bored". Sigh. Children these days. What does it take to entertain them? I blame TV.
