Being a parent gives us a lot of opportunities to do things that scare us. Here is my list of things I can think of right now.
- Actually giving birth (that can be a tiny bit scary).
- Leaving your child overnight with perfectly capable adults.
- Letting go of the bike and letting them fall.
- Walking out of the nursery when they are crying.
- Letting them be seen in public after dressing themselves.
- Advocating for your child when you would rather keep your mouth shut because you hate confrontation.
- Sitting in the passenger seat while they drive.
- Talking with them about puberty. Seriously scary.
Tell me your scary parenting things!
Going with them to sign papers to leave for boot camp, but they aren’t yet 18 when they sign up . . . followed by the scariest thing of all . . . watching them walk away as they leave for deployment and not knowing when you will see them again. Even at 18 years old, when they think they are grown-ups, they are still your baby.
Oh wow! My heart! That sounds very hard!
It was pretty awful, but in a way that filled my heart with such pride. My boy is now 26 years old, has done 4 years in the service, was deployed to Cuba, Haiti (after the earthquake for emergency aid) and Kuwait. He came home, went through the police academy and is now a Deputy Sheriff, married and a daddy. Every day I find myself praying constantly for his safety as he puts his life on the line for his community. I am equally as proud of my daughter, but she stayed close to home and though we all know disaster can strike anywhere/anytime, knowing my baby is in harms way every single day as he goes about his daily work just fills me to overflowing with this completely awkward, wonderful, terrible fear/pride/joy. Hard to describe.
Sending them to public school after years of home-schooling. Waiting while they have their babies – even scarier than having your own!
That waiting while having babies, one. I didn’t really get how hard that could be on moms! When we had Ethan, my mom had called the hospital right as I was being wheeled into the delivery room and my mom thought the nurse had said I had just had the baby. So, she waited for two hours to hear from us and was so worried!
I second all of the above!!! Letting her cry to fall asleep. It was only 10 minutes but it was the first hard thing. Now it’s things like sending them into the ocean waves on a surf board, and across town in some one else’s car.
I feel like boot camp would be the scariest parent thing. Scary is your child coming in at night announciig they threw up in bed and I get to see how much damage was done. My scary things are comforting your crying daughter who wants someday to carry her own baby rather than adopt…And explaining why. Supporting your son’s choice to get married at 18 is also scary. Thankfully those scary moments reap bountiful rewards.