Monkeys make a mess

So I guess I need to upload a bunch of stuff to smugmug from this summer. I can't believe how much my monkey boy has grown up. He's getting his own breakfast in the morning, sometimes putting his own lunch together for school. He's mostly stopped asking for us to buy him things. He'll either add it to his Christmas list or save up his allowance to get it himself. (he gets between 2 and 3 dollars a week based on how many of his chores he does.) I'm proud of him. I'm trying to parent him the same way i was parented. My mom told me, that a parent's job is to make sure the child can survive on his own in the real world. It's funny when I told him how happy I was to having him chipping in and helping out he looked at me funny, and wondered why it was such a big deal. Then he thought about it, and realized a lot of his classmates/friends don't do things for themselves because the parents do everything for them.

I nodded and said "yes those are helicopter parents" There are a lot of people out there who graduate college and don't know how to live on their own because the parents never taught them the skills they'd need. I guess that's why I don't usually mind the mess when he helps me make a meal. He thought that was funny and a few days later he was explaining the concept to his Aunt Susan. She got a kick out of it too. So here's to growing a confidant skilled child.