Who's Helping Whom?

This morning on the "Today Show" there was a segment on how parents are doing too much for their kids: giving them too much help, getting them out of sticky situations, never letting them fail. And I had to look around to see if there were hidden cameras in my room! Because THOSE PARENTS ARE ME!

Here's the problem. I know that I'm controlling. Accepted that fact. But when I am helping my kids, I don't feel like it's controlling. It's more like assisting. I don't like it when they fail, but I know it's bound to happen. But if I can "assist" them so that it happens later (like when I'm dead) rather than sooner, why not? Why not give them all of the advice that I have had to find out the hard way----or maybe I learned it from my also-well-meaning parents. Here are a few pieces of advice that it doesn't hurt to know:

Lock the doors, even when you have a man at home.
Don't____ and drive (text, eat, put on makeup, talk on the phone, play with the radio, read a map, etc.)
Don't leave food out for more than two hours.
Don't drink out of other people's straws (ever heard of meningitis?)
Keep a little extra gas money in your glove box.
Don't pick up hitchhikers (unless it's Grandma.)
Don't leave your laundry sitting in the washer for three or more days.
Choose your boyfriends wisely. VERY wisely.
Never, ever put into print---email, text, handwriting, fb---something you wouldn't want printed in the newspaper

This, of course, is not the complete list. But you get the drift. And why NOT tell my kids this stuff? Afterall, our parents gave us advice to keep us from making mistakes. Remember these:

Don't sit too close to the t.v. or you'll go blind (ok, that one turned out to be untrue).
Don't make that face again---your face is going to freeze that way  (again, not true).
Don't crack your knuckles or they'll get big and ugly. (I still think this is true).
If you cross your eyes too many times they'll stay that way. (Ummmm.....).
Don't wear a dress if you're going on the monkey bars (ok, that one is still true).

Ok, so most of those didn't turn out to be true. But it made our parents FEEL better to tell us these things, things they believed were true. So what's wrong with giving our kids advice to keep them from making mistakes? It will make US feel better. And who knows, maybe some of it will turn out to be good advice?