I just came back from a wonderful weekend visiting with my daughter who is away at college. She’s our eldest child and this is her first year, so of course this “first visit” couldn’t come soon enough for this helicopter parent.  I hate to admit it but I’m one of those parents who hover around their children as much as they’ll allow!

So you can just imagine how difficult it was for me to be separated from our daughter for the first month of her college life. This first visit was also our chance to have a quick weekend post-birthday celebration as she turned 18 a few days earlier, 500 miles away from us!

The chance to celebrate her belated birthday was wonderful, but seeing her also gave us some assurance that she wasn’t starving/sad/partying too much/stressed  - or all of the above!

While I was ever so thankful to God for her well being, I was also thrilled to have the opportunity to be with her as she cast her very first vote for her choice for the next president of the United States.

My girl wasn’t overly political before going off to college and probably wouldn’t be had it not been for the midnight discussions with roommates and class debates.  That’s one of the great things about allowing our kids to learn, socialize and grow in the college setting.

We can do our best as parents to be instructors and mentors for our kids, but some things they have to learn on their own and with their peers. That’s a hard lesson for this helicopter parent.

I’m learning as I go…by the time I’m a grandparent, I’ll probably have this parenting thing licked!