The Paranoid Mother

Monday was the first day at the new school. In our old school, the kids were literally chaperoned back and forth to the car, and everywhere within the school. As a paranoid Mom, I loved the security it gave me, but in retrospect, I see that it actually hindered their independence and decision making abilities. They were very apprehensive about getting to their classes on their own, and so we showed up early, and walked around the school to get familiar with it. Both kids were extremely nervous and I was doing my best not to project my own nervousness onto them. I'm pretty sure I failed. I showed them where to meet at the end of the day, and Emma said she was scared she would get lost. I comforted her, gave her my best smile, and left. As soon as I got out of the doors, I had a mini-panic attack. I drove straight to the AT&T store and bought them each a cell phone. My kids have been begging for phones forever and I SWORE I wouldn't give in until they were teenagers, but this wasn't for them; it was for me.  At 3:30 I parked where we agreed, and out came Landon. He was so excited to tell me all about his day. It was a great day, he loved his teacher, and he loved his new friends. We sat and talked for a few minutes, and I started to have buyer's remorse. Looks like the kids are going to be just fine. I decided not to mention the phones. I realized it had been about ten minutes and Emma still wasn't there. I figured she was probably talking to her teacher. Oh wait, her teacher just drove off. I sent Landon in to find her, but he came out empty handed. My panic set back in and boy was I wishing she had A CELL PHONE!!! Finally after another five minutes, she came out crying. She was totally lost and couldn't find any teachers or anyone to help her. She got in the car and I told her I had something that would make her feel better, and she would never be helpless again. I'm pretty sure this response says it all...