Growing up…

My daughter came home from her Disney world trip on Monday.  Now for the record this is not the first time she has been away from home.  She has had sleep overs with friends, traveled with grandparents to Utah, went with cousins to the Grand Canyon, done several years of camp and a week-long pioneer trek last summer.  So you may be asking yourself (like I was) why this trip was hard for me, the mama.

I have pondered this question and came to a few conclusions.  On this trip, she had a lot of autonomy.  She had a little structure and a lot of free time to choose what she wanted to do with very little adult guidance.  The students on the trip of course had adult chaperones, but the ratio of chaperones to kids was about 20 to 1.  The kids had to buy all of their own meals with their own money.  I know there was one boy who ate candy and cereal the whole week.  There was no enforced curfew, if you were going to be late, you just had to text a chaperone and let them know–not ask, just inform.  Thus some kids were out well past midnight, and most didn’t go to bed till 2 in the morning.

Now my daughter is a good girl, she is smart and funny and makes good decisions.  She is kind to others and respectful of adults.  I know  this because I have watched her.  But there was a tiny part of me that worried how this trip would really go.  This was a small chance for me to see how she will be when she leaves home in just a few short years.

I am thankful to say she did awesome!  She ate fairly well-balanced meals, and budgeted her money.  She went to bed at fairly reasonable times and checked in with her poor mother.  She did get sunburned at the beach, but they all did.

So I think this trip was hard for me because it is one more reality check for me that my daughter is growing up.  In two years she will be getting ready to go to college and move out of our house.  I am not even close to ready for that, but glad to see she is growing up so beautifully!