My worry if we don't choose to give Alfie that freedom and flexibility to do his own thing and make his own mistakes is that he will do exactly what I did as a child/teen and rebel. The way I see it, having lived it, and I'm sure you have to, is that he's going to do it anyway! It's a part of human nature to take risks, to test boundaries, to live through experiences and learn from them. He's going to do it with or without our say so, so we'd rather have that open dialogue and him be able to tell us. E.g. if he decides to have a drink at a party at 16, I'd rather him be able to be honest about that with us so we know where he is, who he's with, and can pick him up when he's ready to come home so we know for certain he's safe.
My worry if we don't choose to give Alfie that freedom and flexibility to do his own thing and make his own mistakes is that he will do exactly what I did as a child/teen and rebel. The way I see it, having lived it, and I'm sure you have to, is that he's going to do it anyway! It's a part of human nature to take risks, to test boundaries, to live through experiences and learn from them. He's going to do it with or without our say so, so we'd rather have that open dialogue and him be able to tell us. E.g. if he decides to have a drink at a party at 16, I'd rather him be able to be honest about that with us so we know where he is, who he's with, and can pick him up when he's ready to come home so we know for certain he's safe.
