Parenting in a Scary World

Our children are faced with scary things each and every day. Due to the nature of children and their feeling of invincibility, they aren't always aware of these dangers. I can remember when the main thing we needed to teach our children was about the danger of strangers. Now every time a child is out of sight or unsupervised online or on their cell phone, there is the potential for the child to be hurt in some way.

So, how do we as mothers allow our children to grow up and learn about dangers while still protecting them from serious harm? There is no definitive parenting strategy that will work for every family, every child and every mother. The fears and the dangers vary depending upon many different situations.

Parenting in the City

I am thankful every day that I am raising my boys in a rural area. Because I would drive myself crazy and probably completely smother my children with my overprotective urges if I had to deal with all the dangers that they could encounter through city living. In the city your children need to be aware of strangers, of drugs, of gangs and learn that even simply crossing the street can be dangerous. Just thinking of trying to teach my boys to drive in city traffic nearly puts me into a panic attack.

Parenting Online

The online world is fraught with dangers. Your children may provide too much personal information or post pictures that give away their school name or street address. This can lead children being targeted by pedophiles. Not only that but the many incidents of cyber bullying and being exposed to pornography as many things that as moms we may not want our kids to see and find out about through random websites makes the online world terrifying for a loving mom.

Parenting and Public Schools

As a home schooling parent I can't imagine seeing the news reports of school shootings and gang activity in schools and then having to send my child into that situation. The dangers of drugs and fighting as well as the exposure to different amounts of knowledge on various topics that aren't related to education are very scary for a mom.

Parenting and Home School

This is also a frightening situation for a mom because we may feel that we aren't allowing our children to be socialized or that we aren't preparing them for the real world. As moms we aren't always going to be there to protect our kids from the dangers of the world. When we school our kids at home, how can we be sure that we are giving them enough information and social skills while we are protecting them from exposure to certain aspects of public education?

It doesn't matter what your situation is, parenting is scary business in today's world. Love your kids, protect your kids and prepare them for their arrival in the unprotected world of adulthood!

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