Living Vicariously

Ok, I’ll admit it. I am indeed living through my son’s life. Yes, I’m having just as much fun, if not more, going on field trips, sports games, and more, as Mackenzie. And what’ wrong with that? I have read and heards lots of criticism aimed at parents who get vicarious pleasure from being with their kids at special events. But now that Mackenzie is almost ready to graduate, and all my vicarious living will soon be over, I have to ask myself, “what was wrong with it”. Would people prefer the altnerative in which a parent reluctantly drags him /herself along to the games, not getting any pleasure out of being a spectator? Or, even worse, would it be more socially acceptable for me, and others like me, not to even come along? What is wrong with the family togetherness achieved while chaperoning a child on a field trip, or experiencing a championship won together. As long as the pressure to be perfect isn’t attached, and the child learns that he / she can indeed survive on his own, why shouldn’t a parent be invovled.
And so, as I prepare for the last field trips, the last basketball game, the last time for driving kids, I am proud that I lived through it all. I stand taller, knowing that I just had 12 wonderful years to live vicariously through my son. Vicarious parents of the world unite!