Fear and parenting

We had friends over yesterday, friends with kids about Sam's age, friends who live just blocks away.

Mom's are chatting, getting packed up. Sam is going with them so I would have a few minutes of peace (wasted on mowing the lawn) in the afternoon. Suddenly we noticed the silence. No chit chat of young boys. No fighting. No boys in the front yard, no boys in the back yard, no boys anywhere.

We had our suspicions and we were right. The three of them decided to walk there on their own! We're not talking about three blocks in the bucolic suburbs here, they were walking down a major road! At least they didn't need to CROSS that road.

Sam and I discussed the situation at length later that evening. He understands the street crossing rules when we're alone so I was surprised that he'd head off on his own if it required crossing streets.

His response:

"We're big boys now. We held hands when we crossed the street."

I can just imagine what people driving down the road were thinking....