To the future me

Dear future, in-ten-years Alison,
Don't be a helicopter parent.  Don't you dare do it!
It's ok if your child's poster isn't perfect, with lined-up vinyl letters.  It's ok if when your child gets a note sent home from school, you give them consequences rather than assuming they're perfect and the teacher is picking on them.  Kids mess up.
It's ok to make your child speak for themselves.  It's even good for them.  Don't be their voice; be their cheerleader.
It's ok if you don't agree with every single minute thing that happens to or with them.  Life will go on.  It really will, I promise.  It'll be good for them, to realize that sometimes we don't get our ways.
It's ok not to spoil the crap out of your children.  It's ok to make them learn to work.  It's ok to have high expectations.
It's ok if your children aren't perfect.  They're going to make mistakes.  They'll be rude at times and lazy at other times.  They are human.  Let them be.
Don't you dare be a helicopter parent.  Let your children be human, and trust them to make good decisions.  Let them be problem-solvers.  Let them be wound healers.  Let them learn and grow and experience.
Remember how annoyed you are right now with the fact that some people still insist upon wiping their kids' butts, regardless of the fact that they're 10, 15, 20 years old.  Remember that you can't follow your children everywhere.  Remember that you are their mother, but that doesn't mean you should make every single decision they have to make.  Remember that they are intelligent, capable human beings.
Don't you hover. Don't you dare.
<3