Learning the parent skills takes a lifetime.

I think being a parent gets harder and harder every year. As a mother of six i know from the minute they were born i just wanted to protect them from everything that could harm or hurt them. The hardest thing is seeing them when there hurt about something. You just want to take it away for them. Plus theres so much evil in the world that you just want to sheild and protect them from it. I will always Pick my Kids up! From the second they were born i picked them up when they cried, i picked them up, when they fell i picked them up and now even as adults i still want to pick them up when there down and sad. I will always be there to try and Pick them Up till the day i die. Of that i know.
Being a parent also you have to learn WHEN to stand back and let them use there own choices. Since ive lived here ive been amazed at how much some parents have a very hard time with that. From little kids there not allowed to think for themselves, they are molded and protected with there parents fears of the outside world and evils. To the point that it does have an affect on them there whole lifes. There only allowed to have there parents opinions. There parents have a much harder time when school starts as it limits the control they can have over them and heaven forbid if the kids see a different way of life that they might enjoy. These same parents i have seen over react to the most crazy things. Blowing things up in there minds from a simple prank to a threat to them and there kids. This does have an affect on the kids how can it not? As a parent you do need to relax a little in order for your kids to be able to breath or they will just grow up, some with the same fears and some will rebel. Studys have proven that teen pg and teen drugs have come from kids whos parents were in fact very controlling of them. Instead of keeping them on the path they wanted they go the other way. As parents we all stuggle learning the right way to do things and none of us are perfect thats for sure. But from what i have learnt (and i admit im still learning) is to let them make there own opinions as children. Let them choose to do certain things and let them choose there own friends. Even if there friends might not be from the right family or the family might not be very active in church on sundays. Let them choose to marry the person they love, its there choice not yours. I admit weve had cases where ive not liked certain friends but if you take the time to get to know them you might be surprised. My kids will be the first to tell you that theres plenty i have not let them do or given them hell for. BUT at the end of the day thereve seen how unhappy people thereve seen at school that are not allowed to make there own choices are and are thankful we are not that way. Lucy told me shes seen kids that just hate life because there parents wont let them do anything. I will contine to learn as long as im alive but one thing i know my kids will be able to make there own choices in the world, whatever they might be. I will not make my kids unhappy by living with guilt that they didnt live up to what i forced down them when little. I worry about them everyday BUT i will not let my fear of the evils in the world stop them from enjoying what the world has to offer. They are there own people. They can make there own opinions and there own mistakes. I will love them whatever life deals them. And ive always be there to pick them up.