Opinion: Taking a parenting victory lap

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We’ve done it, friends! My husband Doo and I have successfully launched our fourth and final child into the world of licensed automobile drivers. We’re still two cars short, our insurance is about to go through the roof and I probably won’t sleep for the next few years worrying about her on roundabouts, but this is certainly a major milestone in our parenting careers and one that deserves commemorating — for me, especially.

Having served as the primary chauffeur at Chez Wilson since 2001, the ability to hand over a set of keys to our youngest little darling when she needs to go to work/school/dance/Castleton is literally a dream come true. She may be loving her new-found independence, but I am luxuriating in it!

And when I think about the road we’ve traveled to ensure that our offspring are now somewhat autonomous humans, I’m amazed that Doo and I are both still fairly normal, high-functioning people. We survived potty training, preschool antics, PTO politics, picky eaters, sibling fights, middle school drama, what feels like thousands of soccer, volleyball and basketball games, scary rashes and ER runs, “sex” talks, family vacation shenanigans, adolescent poor-decision making, a brief stint with Master Yoo’s Taekwondo, teenage heartbreak and heartache and an orthodontics bill that arrived monthly for nearly a decade. Raising kids has not been easy; it is not easy. But we persevered, and here we are, basically on the final lap of that Parenting 500. Sure, they live at home and none of them has secured long-term employment, but they all now have the tools necessary to go into the world and adult. We did it!

Peace out.


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