It shouldn't scare me. Their adept little hands and feet are safe climbing up there and back down. There's practically no way to fall to the ground without being stopped by wires. But when they're completely above my head, climbing higher and higher, I can help but feel the fear rise up in my throat and panic about MY BABIES!!!
But oh how they love it.
They are so happy and so proud doing this, and that's why I know I have to back off. Not show my panic. Let them be free and grow and spread their wings and try new things. It is one of the hardest parts of parenting, to let them get into situations where they might get hurt, even though I know sometimes the greatest risks bring the greatest rewards.
This parenting thing is tough, yo. What scares you?
9 comments:
Yes - that climbing thing scares me and the girls have been loving it since the park opened. They now hang by their knees upside down and flip themselves down. We have done plenty of faceplants on the dismounts.
But having them go to rock climbing lessons killed that fear pretty quick.
OMG, that thing is AWESOME. I want one in my back yard. For me!
As for what scares me? If I let myself think too much, just about everything does. My imagination is not my friend when it comes to parenting fear. When I start thinking about bad things that can happen, I make a conscious decision to think about something else. Since Michael is a cautious child, I rarely find myself faced with this problem in more than just a theoretical manner.
Probably the scariest thing I let Michael do is go into the ocean. But, I typically have one hand on him at all times because the Jersey waters are rough.
What scares me? Having my tiny little boy (36 pounds) playing flag football with seven year olds who weigh as much as I do! Especially when those seven year olds don't realize you're not supposed to tackle!
Basically, I worry about him being picked on for being the short scrawny kid. It's no fun.
What scares me...all the challenges that come with a kid on the spectrum and both with sensory processing disorder. In other words, too many things to list here...but mostly I just shove it all down, take a deep breath and let them go...because it is the best thing I can do for them and for me.
What scares me?
Dating. Seriously. I am not sure how we will keep it together when that time comes.
Also only having one bathroom and 3 girls who will all be teenagers at the same time.
A better question would be what doesn't scare me. This parenting journey can be quite a rocky ride.
It is the emotional/psychological hurts that scare me the most.
Racism. I am so afraid of my wonderful, ebullient, brilliant little boys being told by society that they are less-than, not-worthy, unattractive, not-bright-enough, inadequate -- and in some cases, frightening.
How do I protect them from THAT?
What scares me? That they will have their feelings hurt and their hearts broken. That I KNOW this will happen makes it even worse. I guess my biggest fear is that they will not have the self esteem to be resilient enough to move past those things. And if that happens, I will have failed.
And of course I'm scared of terminal diseases. The C word. Hospitals and tests and scans. I'd rather think of them getting their hearts broken.
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