Clingy dad!

I saw this article linked to from my old chum Andy Armstrong's website. In Holland, it seems, there's this idea going about that it might be a good thing to take away the traffic lights and have motorists take on responsibility for themselves. They've been trying it in one town for seven years, and for that whole period the road fatalities figure has dropped to zero. Admittedly the previous rate was one death in three years, but that's still pretty good news for whoever's number would otherwise have been up. And the traffic flow is apparently much smoother and more efficient too. Trusting people to be responsible for themselves! Cool! If you want people to look after themselves, LET them look after themselves. Counter-intuitive maybe, but apparently true.

Which reminded me that trusting my son to be more responsible for himself as he gets older is a bit of a sore point at the moment. It's not that he's untrustworthy - it's just that I'm a VERY CLINGY DAD. Riding bikes together recently, he had his first short blasts on the road. Other recent innovations include him walking back home from school, and going to the local park while I'm at some nearby shop or cafe. He's ten years old, yet my heart is displaying a disturbing fondness for taking up (hopefully temporary) residence in my throat.

I'd ask 'When does this stop?' but I've coached people on exactly this issue - except their kids are at the leaving-home-to-go-to-university stage. So I know it's likely to continue. Thinking about it, I know enough people of my own age whose parents are still wrestling with it.

So I guess I'd better give up waiting for it to stop. Time to let go of my resistance to letting go. Maybe it's one of those things I could remove from my inner desk.