Recently a local child died in a tragic accident at his overnight camp. The first thought that came to mind was that my kids are never going to overnight camp. I must keep a close eye on my children at all times. At first, the thought of my kids being under my supervision as much of the time as possible seemed to relieve me. Then my brain started down a road, I wish it didn’t.
I quickly remembered that horrible story about Jaycee Dugard who was abducted from inside her family’s home (while her little sister slept in the same room). Fortunately for Jaycee and her family, the story had a happy ending (putting aside what everyone had to go through those years she was missing). I can’t even imagine the horror those parents went through when they realized their little girl was no longer in their safe home.
I’m not sure if the world we live in is more scary than it used to be or thanks to extreme presence of media we are forced to know more than we ever did before. Needless to say, these stories are enough to do me in. Sometimes I wonder why I had children when this world can be so harsh and cruel.
Suddenly I am now in a tailspin of fear over letting my children go to overnight camp which led me to be a paranoid mess over my kids just sleeping in their rooms. How can we keep our children safe? Let alone the horrible diseases and problems innocent children get without any warning. How can we keep our children healthy?
If I buy organic foods, limit exposure to UV and all other rays that channel 7 tells me to be aware of, put them in the car seat backwards until they are 17, give them all their vaccines, can I get a guarantee that they will live a healthy life until they are 347? And if I can’t get that guarantee, what can I do to stop being handicapped by my haunting fears of the unthinkable? There may be only one answer for that, and I believe it comes in pill form.
I'm a mother, wife, daughter, and friend. Until recently I was also an employee. Now that I'm a full time mom, I've decided to make my thoughts, concerns and feelings public.
I hear that… When we went on a trip to MN a few weeks back, there was a horrible house fire in town the day we arrived. A 15-year-old, 3-year-old, and their mother all died in the fire. It was heartbreaking.
Now as a result, I have panic attacks (especially at night — which is when the fire occurred) worrying about the potenial of a fire in our house and figuring out in my head what I would do if the fire started here… or what I would do if the fire started there… or (these are the worst) what I would do if I could not get to one of the kids. It is enough to keep me up for hours at night, just worrying about the possibility. 🙁
Yikes! That’s tough. I think that we need to muster up some faith (of course I realize that this is easier said than done) and just hope that there is another plan for us. Otherwise we’ll be living our lives in this world of fear that doesn’t allow for us to really enjoy anything. Sleep tight Michelle!
I think you have a better understanding of your mother and grandmother, don’t you?
The apple doesn’t fall far…
No worries…as your kids will get bigger you will relax a litttle bit more about all that…not that we re not worried about them anymore, but a little less paranoid…it gets better 🙂
That’s reassuring. I guess I’ll unchain them from their beds when they are around 8 😉