<p>I guess what I think about is that 18 is a milestone, but its not this HUGE leap from 17 to 18…hoepfully its been a path, a trek, leading to this date on a calendar</p>
<p>Your son sounds wonderful and it appears you have done a very good job of raising him. </p>
<p>And yes, it is time to let go some. Not toss him over the side of the nest, but let him explore a bit more. Sure, he may error, but it sounds like he won’t mess up too badly.</p>
<p>Something to think about, and I am not trying to stir anything up, but maybe your son has ALREADY been doing a bit of exploring, and just not sharing all the information- maybe watching those shows you don’t like, going to a movie you don’t approve of, nothing too big, but just normal teen stuff</p>
<p>Its normal for kids to not share EVERY detail of their lives, no matter how wonderful they are…its part of seperating themselves from us and becoming independent, capable people.</p>
<p>My D told me recently about how she was dealing with some issues of her friends and handled them well. I had NO clue, but as we raised her the best we could and gave her values and morals, I didn’t need to be involved in all aspects of her life. She took care of business.</p>
<p>Just recently, we had a bit of a crisis during a vacation. left something behind at a location and it was going to take us an hour to get back and cost $$. Well, my little D, 14, negotiated free tickets for us, figured out the schedule to go back to location, got us on that bus, while she took rest of group forward to next destination. I was so impressed how she handled it all on her own and took that initiative. I think she was able to handle it because I have let her handle parts of her life and she is confident because of that- me trusting her, her judgement, and her capabilites without micromanaging her life.</p>
<p>Every family is different, and what works for us may not work for other families.</p>