Independence

When I was a camper at Treetops we all had double blade knives so that we could become champions at the game of mumbledy peg which I think dimly involves flipping your knife around and driving it into the ground. or that's what I remember about it. So when I thought about giving my daughter a knife at age 12 I had to acknowledge that perhaps I have infantilized her or at the very least am not helping her take responsibility for her own actions. How will she ever learn how to be responsible? I immediately scrunch up my shoulders when she wants to help chop something in the kitchen. Maybe she should just cut herself and then it wouldn't happen again. She wants contact lenses and i want her to keep her Metro card for longer than 2 months. I've told her now that if she loses the phone then it's gone. And if she loses her metro card again then she pwill pay for her own transportation to school. Or she could walk. And maybe I don't have to walk with her. See, that's where I think I become over protective. I don't feel comfortable with the idea of her walking to school alone because although she is 13 she looks as if she is 8!
So if she wants more grown up stuff , such as contacts and a face book account, then she has to be more responsible. Maybe I could just give her a pocket knife and see how that goes first.