Secret 20: Overprotective mom... Sorta...

I come from a large family and I noticed once that any time we seem to seperate one from the group a comment will come up about the one thing that bugs us. I saw this happen for each of my sisters so I asked once "Okay, what is it that you say when I go away?" I wanted to know what the pet peeve was with me (because let's face it, there is something in ALL of us that bugs somebody). The answer I got was that I'm too overprotective of my kids.

I kind of get it. There are lots of things that I did as a child that I won't let my kids do yet. Like play in the front yard when I'm not there. I did that (living on a busy street) in the 2nd grade and I won't let my second grader do that. I used to walk to a friends house to play that was a long way away (a mile?) and I don't want him walking anywhere by himself. Part of it is that I don't think he has the sense yet to stay out of the street (I didn't either) and part of it is that you never know who's out there. When will I let him? I don't know yet.

On the other hand, I think in some ways maybe I don't protect them enough. Someone says to me "your son is sniffling a lot, maybe he's sick" and I think "he just has a runny nose, he'll be fine". Okay, maybe it's a cold, but he's not complaining or unhappy so is it a big deal? My mother only took us to a doctor if we really needed it (we didn't have a lot of money for doctors then) and I try not to overreact and take them in for every little thing. So what about a cough? Last week my daughter was overly tired and she had a minor cough. She wasn't having any trouble breathing and other than sleeping an extra hour most nights she was acting normally. I decided to take her to the doctor (still thinking that I was overreacting) and it turned out that she had a little pneumonia and a type of mono. But she was happy and breathing fine. If I hadn't taken her in would it have gone away? Probably, but it would have taken longer to correct itself.

So, am I overprotective? Yes, definately. Would I change it? I'm thinking no.

** And don't worry. Thanks to steroids and antibiotics little miss has already stopped the cough she had and according to her doctor she should be completely her old self within the week.