When you are growing up, there are tons of rules and if you don't follow them it is punishable by something or another. It wasn't until I was older when my parents explained why certain rules existed that I was grateful for them and the protection of my parents.
One such rule was that I couldn't spend the night at friend's houses until I was 15 years old. I could have friends stay over at my house but not the other way around. It was always disappointing when a friend had a sleepover for a birthday party and I never got to stay. I am sure I didn't miss out on a whole lot but it never made sense to me.
I didn't understand when they wouldn't let me stay at my neighbor's house. I mean, come on! I was 300 feet away, what was the harm. The closest I got was sleeping in a tent in my neighbor's backyard. I didn't even make it through the night though before my dad came and got me because we were being too loud.
When I was around 12 years old, my mom explained that the rule existed to protect me from certain situations; they wanted me to be able to protect myself. Now, I didn't really understand at the time what I needed to protect myself from, but it was mind over matter for awhile. A couple years later, my mom explained further. I watched a lot of crime shows, probably more than I should have at my age. This made it easier for my mom to explain though that sometimes friend's family members took advantage of young children that visited their house. Now, I don't think that my parents ever felt any of my friend's families would do anything, but it is always the people you least suspect.
Even more recently, I was told about an unfortunate and unbelievable situation that happened in my own family. This explained a lot about this particular rule and why my parents were always hesitant when I got too close to a strange adult.
Fifteen years was a long time to wait to finally spend the night at someone else's house, but I am grateful that my parents care so much about me and want to protect me.
Here's another rule that might seem insignificant, but was ultimately done for my own good. Many parents get their little girl's ears pierced when she is just a baby. I had to wait until I was 12 years old. Whenever I asked why this was the case, they said that I had to be able to take care of them. It was all about learning responsibility.
There were a lot of little rules that taught me about responsibility and aimed at protecting me. To a child, many rules don't make sense and seem to be there for your own torture. To an adult looking back on a childhood that was perhaps a bit sheltered, I am nothing but thankful for the love and care that my parents took in raising my sister and me.
