THEY'RE GROWING UP - I DON'T LIKE IT!

My sweet little baby boy with the rubber band arms and legs, the gappy grin and eyes for only me, has been out with friends twice this weekend. Friends from school I have never heard of before. Apparently, for a 14 year old, this is quite normal. He says I don't need to know the name of every single one of his friends anymore. Nor do I need to know their mums, their dads or their shoe size. Funnily enough, he informs me, he doesn't have to have attended pre-school with everyone he comes into contact with. Sometimes he may actually mention someone I don't know. Doesn't make them a bad person. "I thought you wanted me to make more friends?" I do, just ones I've vetted. After he'd finished laughing in my face, he said, "No, that's not happening."

I know I laugh and joke about my kids. Have always prided myself on the relationship I have with them. How close we are. The trust we have. And how I've made sure they could function independently of me, right from when they were babies. There was no clinging. No refusing to go with anyone. No tantrums if I left them.

Who would have thought, all this time later, it would be me who was having trouble cutting the cord? Me! But I'm told I have to. I have to step back and well, trust in that bond we have. It might take me a while, but I'll get there... I hope.