My Mom Was My Parent, Not My Friend and I am Thankful

The Dilemma Many parents today are caught in the crossfire of whether they should be a child's friend, or be a parent. The choice was easy for my mom. She parented my siblings and I and today we are better people because of her choice. Her example helped me to raise my own children so they understand I love them and care for them. 00:11 Good evening and welcome to my humble podcast abode. I am Cocoa Griot that 50 something single mom who enjoys talking about life, love, and a boatload of other topics. I've been thinking a lot about my mom this week and last week because of Mother's Day. Boy do I miss her. Her words are my constant companions, and I'm gonna share a few of those words with you tonight. Some of them might surprise you. So when I was a junior in high school with my own car, I approached my mom about extending our curfew past 10pm. She asked me what I thought would be a suitable curfew for a 16 year old, and I immediately said midnight. My mom looked me without an ounce of malice on her face, or in her voice and said," Ain't nothing and open after midnight but legs and motels." in other words, DENIED! I reminded her about the way she raised me, and that she would not have to worry about things like that. She reminded me that she had only raised two young men in Tyler, Texas, my brothers. She could not guarantee the morals of other young men, so her no was firm. I just laughed and accepted the fact that my curfew was still 10pm. Nothing short of an act of Congress would change my curfew. Well, as time went by and my senior year rolled around, I started to notice that many of the girls were late curfews also had like periods. When I really sat down and thought about it later, I realized something. My mom had the courage to tell me no, and raise me. She had lived a little longer than I had and I had to give her credit for the wisdom she shared with me. Her main objective was not being my friend, she did what she needed to do to keep me safe. Setting boundaries as a parent can be hard, but I'm so