Hanging On Until Independence Day

As a parent, it is part of my calling to foster independence in my children. I hope my offspring catch on, because I plan on showing them to the front door on their 19th birthday, and will bade them farewell with only a suitcase and a kiss. However, there are moments when I fear my plan may be jeopardized and that my children may never provide me the crowning glory of an empty-nester. Their blatant lack of self sufficiency becomes apparent at the oddest times, like when I make a call for hangers.

A call for hangers is what I do when the laundry room is void of hangers, yet crowded with clothing. So I make a house wide request for all hangers to be brought to me. Then S1-D2 quickly scatter and collect every single empty hanger from their closets, floors, drawers, and under their beds.

The other day I was in such a need and so I made the call for hangers. D1 and D2 brought in a few and then S1 and S2 came upstairs with hangers. Lots of them. Hangers slung on their fingers and indenting their thumbs. Hangers suspended from their arms and even sagging on their t-shirts. It was quite a sight - their plethora of hangers.

As the boys stood at the entrance to the laundry room, S2 looked at me shaking his head in disappointment. And as he tried to raise his weighted arms, he chastised, “Mom, don’t you think you should have made a call for hangers a long time ago?”

It is clear that if I expect S2 to be accountable for his food, shelter, clothing and medical expenses in seven short years, I’ve got my work cut out for me. Because right now, he won’t even accept responsibility for his own jumble of hangers.