You Will Never Stop Worrying About Your Kids

Dear moms,

Despite the joys of motherhood, you will have more cares and concerns than you ever did before. Some of them will be real, and some you will imagine, but the life of your little one will become your number one priority, above and beyond anything else. And that is how it should be. You are the mother, after all, and your maternal instincts will kick into overdrive. You will never stop worrying about your kids, but that really is okay! It’s how it is supposed to be.

In those early days, you will spend time child-proofing your house. Every time you see something that could potentially be a danger to your child, you will jump into action – Wonder Woman will have nothing on you – and you will remove those troublesome obstacles before your child touches/tastes/plays with it.

This is a contributed post and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Meet The Harris Family.

When you take baby for a walk in the pram, you will be wary of every passerby who wants a peek under the blanket. “Isn’t he/she lovely” they will say, and while part of you is flattered – you produced this little marvel – you will hurry on, wishing them a good day, while consciously reminding yourself of the lessons of stranger danger you will one day have to teach to your child. Every time you strap baby into the child seat in the car, you will remember our safety advice. After double and treble-checking every strap, you will then drive around town, forever on the alert for any danger – speeding drivers beware, you WILL take note of their registration numbers if their foolishness causes you and your child risk on the roads.

And then, before you know it, your child will be going to school, and as you pack their dinner into their school bag, you will wonder where their infancy disappeared to. You will watch them enter the school gate, probably with more butterflies in your stomach than they do. Will they make friends? How will they cope with lessons? Will they remember the martial arts skills you taught them to fend off school bullies? Guess what- your child will be fine, most of the time – but that won’t stop you worrying.

But where did their innocence go? Suddenly, your child is coming home with language that turns the air blue, and you realize their childhood has gone. Just when did they become a teenager? And so begins your lessons on the dangers of drugs, the perils of the internet, and the consequences of drinking. Your child rolls their eyes – not another lesson from mom – but the only way you are going to reduce your worry is by instructing them on literally everything. ‘JUST SAY NO” you holler at them, as they leave the front door to yet another party.

Then one day it will happen. The inevitable. The day you have been dreading for years. Your child has become an adult, and new worries begin. They bring home a boy/girl and tell you how much they adore them. You eye up these intruders with suspicion – how dare they steal your child’s affections!

You watch in horror as your child finally takes to the road – a car, a motorbike, a scooter – it doesn’t matter; they are all death traps.  “Don’t go over five miles an hour” you shout to them as they pull away, that advert for a motorcycle accident lawyer playing heavily on your mind. Why oh why couldn’t your child be happy with you driving them around forever. Safely strapped into the backseat of your car with you under control. Why oh why did your child have to grow up so fast? Worry worry worry!

But this is motherhood. If you didn’t worry, you wouldn’t care, so don’t beat yourself up about your anxieties. And while you may not want to be the overprotective mom, it’s okay to share your worries with your children occasionally. Because guess what? They will have those very same worries when they have children of their own. And, they will be reminded of the care you have shown for them. Oh, they will say they won’t worry like you did. But they will – it’s parenthood – the cycle of life, and how life is supposed to be. You will never stop worrying about your kids, and that is okay!