They grow up really fast, don’t they? One moment you realise you can relax a bit and can afford to take your eyes off them for a little while without them trying to find innovative ways to kill themselves, and the next moment they’re all grown up and experiencing some of those challenges life has in store for us as we grow up.
Somewhere in between their blissful childhood days and puberty however, children inevitably send their innocence packing and it’s somewhat of a bittersweet moment for parents. On the one hand it ushers in a period of greater independence on the part of the kids as functioning human beings while on the other hand it means that you need to start considering some of the harsher realities of what life has to store for them. Naturally you wish you could completely shield them from these harsh realities of what can be a very cruel world to live in, but there’s only so much you can do.
It’s better that they learn now than having to find out later on in life when they don’t have the necessary tools to deal with all that’s to come.
Fortunately though by mere virtue of them having survived this long that’s a great indication of the fact that they are indeed finding their way in the world. You really don’t need to worry too much – in fact, it’s a matter of learning by exposure.
As much as you as a parent know just how stupid the kids’ peers can be, with the capacity to fill their minds with even dumber ideas, to a certain extent you have to let things go a bit. Micro-management can only go so far and if you’re too stringent in your micro-management exploits then you leave the door open to some mega outbursts in the future. I’m pretty sure I’ve heard on more than one occasion my uncle telling one of my cousins that he should perhaps have paced himself growing up, especially in his late teens and early adult life.
The verdict was “You seldom screw up, but when you do, you really go to town on it and make it a colossal screw up!”
Anyway, if you have the pleasure of raising kids that are still young enough to have their innocence, enjoy it while it lasts and keep doing all you can to preserve it. There isn’t going to be a definitive moment which indicates that their innocence is now gone in that specific instance, but there’ll likely be a series of events leading up to your realisation that that’s it as far as their innocence goes.
For me personally it was when after watching a movie in which one of the characters had a bit to drink and was involved in a car accident the kids agreed that the Oakland car accident lawyers at Dolan Law Firm they’d read about online would probably be needed in this particular situation.
Bittersweet because on the one hand it means they empathise with someone who made a really bad decision, but on the other hand they understand the ways of the world, referencing the need for some specific lawyers and all of that!