A Boy and His Bike

Giving up control is not my strong suit. There have been a number of situations to test my anxiety as a parent over the years, but the greatest one so far has been letting our middle schooler ride his bike to school. Alone. Like, by himself. 

I know, I know ... if this were 1988, people would be like, so what? For years, I've watched really little, pint-sized kids walk themselves home from school in our neighborhood without issue. But that's not something I would ever think of as a possibility for my own kids. Until now. 

Middle school has come with a lot of growing pains for us all as a family, and for a while there, 6th grade was really kicking our butts. There's a whole new school to learn how to get around, breakups with girlfriends, school fights. But one of the bright spots to come out of it all is surprisingly, the bike ride to and from school. 

I wasn't so sure about it at first. He has to cross not one, but two very busy roads during peak traffic times. Anything could happen! Distracted drivers, creepers in vans, punks in leather jackets with spiky hair that try to bully my kid ... the possibilities are endless. And I'm not there to stop any of it. 

But it's ok.

He's doing great with it. He makes it to and from school without fail and sends us a text message to keep us updated with his whereabouts. There's a flood of other kids that ride their bikes and walk to school too on the same path. There are crossing guards. It's totally fine. That's what I keep telling myself anyway.

Then one day something bad DID happen. He was distracted on the way to school one day and ran into a large metal transformer box on the side of the road. Even though he was hurt pretty bad, he brushed himself off and made his way to school without even telling us. The impact was so bad that he ruined his bike and even ended up at the doctor.

But it's ok. 

Even though he got hurt, and we weren't there to immediately help him, he did fine, all on his own. That's what growing up is about anyway, right? If we do our job as parents, then by the time they are adults, they won't need us to kiss their boo boos, get them to school or help them make decisions anymore. As hard as it is to sit back and see them get hurt and make mistakes, it's so essential to their development. My anxiety totally disagrees with this statement, by the way.  

So for now, I'll keep holding my breath as he feels the wind in his (helmet covered) hair on the way to school. I'll relax a little when his "I'm at school" texts come through, and try to remember those little tastes of freedom I enjoyed at his age. Not to mention the fact that I don't have to wait in that dang pickup car line after school anymore. That's pretty awesome. Thanks bike!