Dear Queenie,
My son has graduated high school and has a good job for the summer, so he spends his days working and at night he stays out late having fun with his friends.
I work full time in the day and go to bed fairly early at night to get some rest and I don’t like being waked up when he comes home late or staying awake worrying if he doesn’t get home by a reasonable hour.
Queenie, how do I stop worrying and let him enjoy himself?—Sleep-deprived mother
Dear Mother,
If your son has a job he needs to get enough sleep at night that he can do his work well during the day. You also need to set some rules so that you can get the sleep you need.
Make an agreement with your son that when he is out at night he will answer promptly if/when you call him, set an hour by which he agrees to be home, and let him promise to call and let you know if he has a problem getting home by that time so that you can come and get him if necessary.
However, your son is growing up and soon enough you will have no control whatsoever over what he does or what happens to him, so you had better start learning how to let him go.
