Boundary

 I have been commiserating with friends about how our teenagers are learning to play the system of our house rules. They are learning that sometimes it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. 

Zig starts his junior year of high school tomorrow. At our local public high school. It’s huge. He went to orientation with my sister because I couldn’t go and Heather is vastly cooler than me so she was the better option anyhow. I think it went all right. He saw his classes and got a parking pass. Heather loved it and said she wanted to go back to high school. I’m not sure they could handle her. 

I am so excited for him and have been thinking about my own junior year. I was terrified of letting my parents down. I always asked permission. I was close to them. And so we’re my friends. I want Zig to have his fun. Do the stupid fun things he should be doing. But I also want to create boundaries that will catch him before he has to really ask for forgiveness. 

Meanwhile Charlie is doing so well with homeschool. We are so structured and have a well thought out reward system. She is thriving with it. She is getting more fluent with her math and getting all of her assignments done on time. Hopefully watching her brother go through this phase will help her to embrace her boundaries, until it’s time for her to break out of them, and build her own.