The Office

📂
Coleman recently started binge-watching The Office.
He’s twelve. I believed that he would watch a couple episodes and get bored.

But this is Steve Carrell.
And John Krasinski.
And. Dwight. Schrute.

He plowed through two seasons.
Skipping a couple episodes because he thought they had inappropriate content.

I had all kinds of mom-guilt thoughts:
Oh no! I can’t remember if it’s appropriate!
I should monitor him better!
He shouldn’t be on that screen for hours!
A twelve-year-old watching The Office must be a problem!

I went to the worst case scenario in my mind. Here’s what that looked like:
Coleman watches The Office. 
My brain asks: What’s the worst that could happen?
My brain answers: If he continues to binge on The Office, Coleman will drop out of school and get a girl pregnant.
In that order.

Hmmmm...interesting.
Because of Steve Carrell...
Coleman will drop out of school...
And get a girl pregnant.

I know. You’re thinking, “What???”🙄

But that’s what our brain likes to do. It likes to jump to the crazy worst case scenario.
Then we try to prevent this imaginary worst case scenario by deciding we should manage the present situation (screen time). 
Because if we manage the present (screen time) then we will totally manage the future (not dropping out of school).

But it’s not even possible to manage the future. Especially someone else’s. 

Wait! I’m the mom! I want to make sure that the future I envision happens for him!
The thing is, that’s not my job. I don’t even have the ability to do that.
He gets to create his own future.
And it might include the choice to drop out of school. Or it might not. 
He gets to decide. 
I do not control his future. Neither does Steve Carrell.

So, I’m ditching those mom-guilt thoughts.
The ones that tell me that I’m in charge of manufacturing Coleman’s future.
Instead, I’m making decisions about screen time for reasons that feel good to me.
Not out of fear. Not out of panic. 
I’m just asking myself: What feels right to me? What feels right for us?
And deciding from there.

Enjoy some more of The Office, buddy.
Just check with me before each episode.

Boom. Life coaching for the win!✊🏻💙