A Letter to Aidan - Freedom!
Updated | By Staff Writer

I would be the first one to admit I don't think the world in which we raised you, was the perfect one. By 2012 when you went to school, we weren't by all means living in a child friendly environment. Not by my standards, in any case. There were so many horrible threats hanging over our heads on a daily basis. What if we were in the shops and someone were to grab you and run? What if you were to get in the car with a stranger? What if you were in a fight at school and punched another boy?
None of these were real head aches when Dad and I grew up in the carefree 1980s. I was in desperate need of the manual and instructions as to when to panic and when not to. The new millennium was filled with traps for children and I vowed to protect you against all of them.
What I can tell you, Aidan, and what your dad realized early on was that all these additional concerns sent me into overdrive and over protective mode. Whenever we went to a show or big outdoor function or picnic in a park, you would be the boy with the cell phone numbers written all over your fore arms in thick black ink. You would wear a bright color and a red cap to make it easy for me to spot you. It was a guaranteed fight. "Stop it Mom. Ouch! You are hurting me with that pen!"
How was I supposed to tell you what I was trying to protect you against when I myself wasn't sure and without making you paranoid about the world you had to live in and enjoy while you we're still young?
The older you got, the more difficult the challenge to safe guard my ignorant little boy with his innocent zest for life.
Slowly but surely I had to let go. I knew that you knew there was a world to explore. It was one of those difficult jobs as a mom that would leave wrinkles forever. We started in small doses. First there was the bicycle trips around the neighbourhood with you safely strapped in on the back of Dad's bike. A few months later and I had to take the leap of faith and let you get on your own bike with Dad in the front and me at the back. This was a lot of fun until you thought it funny to show me how you could ride with no hands! Or even more hilarious, let's see how far we can ride away from Mom! I almost slapped you off that bike .... Now that was a real threat to your life.
Just when I made my peace with the bike rides, you and a friend decided one Sunday that you were going to walk over to another friend's house - literally one street away. I gave a stern and final No. There was no way you would walk to anyone's house. I would take you there. Dad, on the other hand, gave me "the look" and there it was .....I lost the fight.
Since there was no way that I would be allowed to walk with you, we reached a compromise. And so it was that you and your friend were allowed to walk one street of our neighbourhood ..... With Dad driving behind you in the car. Yes, I know this now sounds pathetic and yes I am well aware of the fact that we might have been a little over protective and that other boys were way more street wise at the age of 7, but so what?
You gave Dad a tongue lashing and made the rules quite clear. He was to give you a 1 minute head start (which we didn't adhere to), he was to drive far behind you and he was to make a u-turn the moment you arrived at your friend's house.
Dad returned with a full report that you safely walked the 10 houses and I immediately blamed him for giving in too soon. Later, you walked back home and that was that. Your first independent stroll through our streets. And by all means not the last, despite the fact that I was plotting all sorts of James Bond tricks to get you to never want to leave our house ever again.
I wish I could transport you 20 years back to a world where children grew up on their bikes and in the suburb streets without any fear for either them or their parents. When moms would send their 7-year olds to the corner cafe to buy milk and bread and spend the change on a "Pacman" game. It was a world where the dangers were lurking fewer and further in between.
It was world where the dangers were lurking fewer and further in between. It was a world that made me stronger and all I could hope for was that this is the world that would do the same for you.
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