Marty is twenty-five now and is getting married in a couple of days.
Marty has an orthodonist appointment at 10:30 this morning, and works at noon. He has gone to ortho alone, and has taken Holly before. I asked yesterday if he wanted to go alone or me take him. He wanted me to go. He asked me to wake him up an hour before. He likes at least an hour before, and usually an hour and a half.
I forgot to wake him up, but I heard his alarm go off at 9:31 (and remembered I had forgotten).
He was tired and I offered to put a fifteen or twenty minute timer on and come and get him, but he said no, he wanted to get up.
There is a snapshot moment in the "don't have to" life of a sixteen year old boy.
I'm not saying that every child given leeway will be Marty.
I'm saying that every person who claims that leeway will inevitably cause sloth is proven wrong by Marty.
photo by Sandra Dodd, of Marty, a different morning in those same days
We can similarly attest that letting kids sleep on their own schedule does not preclude them choosing to get up early (often several hours short on sleep) for things that matter to them, or sometimes, just because they want to get up earlier and experience more of the day's sunshine.
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