Sunday, November 8, 2009

Is She REALLY Ready?

Although 8 months away, I am wondering if Kathryn is really ready to go away to college. This is her today, filling out her college application forms online, holding her childhood blanket!!! What's wrong with this picture??? It WILL go with her to college, she has already assured me of that! There are soo many things that she still clings to that will not be available at college - her mother...and everything I still do for her...her freedoms...her lack of doing chores.....her lack of concern for OTHERS and the fact that there IS a world outside of her little bubble...
So, do I have her go through a crash course over the next 8 months??? Or is it just too late???
I guess she'll be like every other young adult and learn the lessons of leaving home on her own...I imagine there will be a lot of phone calls the 2nd month she is away. Nothing the first month, as she won't want me to know that she's lost and needs me...but the second month? That's when it will hit...the tears, the pleading to come home and the shock of not having someone to take care of her. That's when it will be time to grow up and actually become everything she already thinks she is...an adult.
And my job? It will be to love her and comfort her through it all...giving her the strength and encouragement she needs to stretch her comfort zone and be a big girl on her own.
Kathryn has never lacked in confidence...she's just a little lazy in being the independant adult she thinks she is.
It will be interesting to watch her figure it all out.
But there's still SOME time to work on a few things...should we start with putting the blanket away? Or at least having her keep it in her room?
Maybe I'll start with something a little easier..like doing her own laundry...