Thursday, July 1st, 2010 10:34:52

Freedom and Responsibility — People Have the Power

My children, who are 8 and 10, are five weeks into their 12 weeks of summer vacation. With the advent of summer comes an increase in their freedom. They do not have to walk out of the house to go to school at 7:30 in the morning. This means that they can stay up after 8 p.m. and sleep past 6:30 a.m.

The days of the week are no longer structured by ballet, karate and chess. In fact, every day is different. They have been given more freedom to determine what to do, but have received additional responsibility. They are tracking their own summer reading and daily journal writing. When I am working toward meeting a deadline, they have to wait until I am done before I can answer questions or help with projects.

The overall lesson for my children this summer: The more responsible they are, the more freedom they will be given. I have a pretty good feeling that this will be my mantra for the next few years.

The opposite is also true: to retain their freedoms, they must be responsible.