10/26/2025
Parenting Level Up: Unlocked. 💪🏽 In true Combating-The-Anxious-Generation-Form, I sent my 7 year-old alone into CVS to buy some popsicles. Brave move, I know. Would she come out with the family-size bag of Skittles? Would she come out holding a stranger’s hand, heading to his car? Spoiler alert: she did not.
Bug had been in major orthodontia pain all day and asked if we could stop on our way home to get popsicles. Per usual, Brother Bee fell asleep in the car, and I knew he’d be a complete disaster if I tried to wake him up to run into CVS.
My first idea was to leave them in the car (with it running & locked, of course) go in, take a picture of the popsicle section, come back to the car, show Bug, then go back in and buy them… but then on her own, she asked, “Can I just take your card inside and get them?” 😳
Now, if we didn’t live in a small suburb where the local CVS has her art up on the walls and knows many customers by name, I wouldn’t have done this. I wouldn’t have even let them stay in the car while I ran in. BUT- we do, and I trust our small community. And, y’all, the PRIDE on her face when she came out of the store, toting a bag of popsicles and my card in her front pocket- that pride is irreplaceable.
So remember- giving children age-appropriate autonomy, like sending them up to the snow cone stand on their own or walking down the street unsupervised to a friend’s house- these small acts of independence all help their emotional development. Let’s allow to them figure out how to navigate social & physical challenges independently- let’s break the anxious generation cycle together.
