Adventures in Parenting

“You’re being overprotective!”

You bet I am.

When it comes to taking care of a baby, I am all for being overprotective. Don’t let other people intimidate you into thinking that you should not be.

Trust your instincts as a mother.

If you have a feeling that it is not a good idea to leave your 2-month-old baby overnight with your parents, or if you see something amiss in the way your baby is acting and needs to see the doctor, go with your instincts. Your baby can’t talk, so who else knows your baby better than you do to interpret what he needs? You are the one who looks at your baby every day, almost every minute. You knows his habits, the different way he cries, and his normal behaviors. If you sense that something is wrong, don’t let others tell you that you are overreacting.When we go out anywhere, I watch my little ones like a hawk. Going to the park is a time for me to play with my kids, not for me to bring a book to read while they play. I know I can be so absorbed with my book that I cannot be attentive to what’s going on.

Today while shopping at the store, the speaker interrupted the background music and said, “Will the customer named Victoria come to the shoe department? Your son is here.” What! Is looking at clothes more important than watching her son?

We have a swimming pool, and you know what that means with little ones. We don’t need to know the specific statistics of drowning in swimming pools at home to know that we have to be ultra careful. When the kids are in the pool, I do not answer the phone, I do not do my gardening at the same time, I do not even go to the bathroom. I have my eye on my kids every minute when I am out with them. If I am to err, I would rather err on the side of being too careful than not careful enough, wouldn’t you?

“You don’t have to be so protective,” some well meaning friends tell me.

As our children grow up, we do have to allow them more and more autonomy. But I don’t believe we can be over-protective with our babies and toddlers.