checking out locations for spring break

It seems like the headline news stories are getting more sensational all the time. There are times when I see the daily paper and you have to take a second glance to make sure it is not a tabloid. The accurate unemotional reporting of news seems to be a thing of the past. I like to form my own opinions of events that occur. It is harder to do this when newspapers report events with slanted views. My son brought this up to me a while back when he approached the subject of going on a college spring break.

When he came to his father and me and told us that he and a group of friends were checking out locations for spring break I felt instant panic. The newspaper has been filled with spring break stories over the years. My son said that the Cancun spring break offer seemed like the best deal and one of his buddies was checking into it further. This raised my concern even more. A Cancun spring break meant being in a foreign country and too far from home to just hop a plane or bus if something went wrong. I was pointing out all of the reasons I did not feel this was a safe idea when my son brought out the brochure that they had been looking at. Part of the Cancun spring break that they were considering included two days of working in a school setting helping the area children to learn English. My son and his friends are getting their degrees in education. It would be a great opportunity to experience teaching and the government of Mexico would give them a deal on their transportation costs. Once I realized that part of the trip was going to be teaching I felt more comfortable about it.

When our son left my husband pointed out to me that we had instilled strong values and belief systems in our children. They needed to have the opportunity to spread their wings and experience life on their own. The best way to know if you are going to be true to your values is to have those values challenged. Our son has always been good at making decisions he uses common sense and sees the bigger picture rather than just the pleasures of the here and now. We called him and told him that we were proud of his decision to use break time to gain experience in teaching and that we trusted him to have a safe Cancun spring break. We also told him that we would give him some money towards the trip so he would have a good time. I told my husband that I felt like the mother bird shoving her baby out of the nest.