Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Starting to "snip" the cord

For the past couple of weeks, Andy has been nagging us to up-date our cell phone plan and allow him to upgrade his phone. We haven't been real receptive to his need for a fancy-schmancy phone. So, we've been basically ignoring him. It's a gift we parents have.

Yesterday, he asked me if he could take himself off his phone. After all, he has a job now (temporary), and he'll be in college soon, and he is 18 now, and he wants to start being responsible for his own life and blah blah blah.

I've heard it all before. In fact, I said similar things 20 some years ago when I was 18--only without the cell phone thing.

So, we decided to put a snip in the cord and let him go off our phone plan and on his own. Of course he got the fancy phone with Internet and a qwerty key pad. His plan will be "either $71 a month or $108 a month." (I heard the sales rep say $108, but Andy said he only paid $71.)

My independent son, who wanted to cut the cord then asked me, "Mom, if there's a month I can't pay, will you pay my bill and then I'll pay you back." My reply? "Nope. It's your responsibility. You'll just have to make sure you have the money to pay it every month. That's how it works."

I pretty confident he'll make sure it gets paid every month. And if his summer job ends with the end of summer, I have no doubt he'll find another one. He's pretty responsible.

But, boy is it scary letting him take these tiny steps into adulthood. I keep telling myself that I made mistakes and stupid decisions when I was his age. So did his Dad. So, I guess it's time to start letting him make some moves of his own.

It's time for all of us to take those snips at the cord.

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