I want what every parent wants – for my children to grow up feeling safe and loved but also confident and independent.
I think I’ve mastered the safe and loved bit but as a natural born worrier, I have to try really hard to encourage the kids to be confident and independent which is really difficult for me.
I never want them to know how much I worry when they play out with their friends and I can’t see them, or how my heart’s in my mouth when they ride their bikes too fast or even how it breaks my heart when one of them comes home upset because they’ve fallen out with their best friend. I don’t want them to realise how I worry every time they’re ill in case it’s something more than just a headache or a tummy ache and how much I dread the thought of them growing up and leaving home.
If they knew how much I worry about them, they wouldn’t be the confident, independent children that they’re growing up to be so until they’re grown up with their own children, it’ll be our secret 😉
