Whole Foods Ride

It's one of my goals to not be a nervous-nelly, over-protective mom. I want Cece to be able to deal with disappointment and hurt and to be tough and self-reliant and not a clingy whiner. That sounds so harsh, but I hope you know what I mean. Of course I want to snuggle up with her and give her smooches as much as possible, but a job of a good parent is to arm a child with the tools they'll need to be strong and independent as they grow up. Constantly protecting a child is a good instinct, but it seems to me it does more harm than good, but I'm guilty of being too protective at times. We were all at Whole Foods yesterday and Cece loves to ride on the carts by standing on the front and holding on while she's facing backwards. I always get nervous because I always foresee her letting go as she reaches for something and crashing to the floor. A lady in the store asked Cece if she was going for a ride and Trey said, "Yeah, she is, but it makes me nervous when she rides like that." The lady asked why we would get nervous--was it because we thought someone else would run into us? I told her I get paranoid that Cece will let go and fall, and the woman said, "So then she falls." A lightbulb went off. I told her, "You're absolutely right. So, she'd fall. The ground is 3 feet away." It's not like I'm going to purposely seek out inappropriate things for my daughter to do just to toughen her up and keep her out of a bubble, but I will definitely find a happy medium where she can test her limits and I can let go of the reigns a little bit.