More on Fear.

I was a very fearful child. I was afraid of EVERYTHING. I was afraid of monsters, of being kidnapped, of being watched through my window, of getting lost, of the dark, of my mom giving me up for adoption, of my mom forgetting that I existed, of demons, of hell, of snakes & spiders, of dogs, of needles & shots, of being spanked, of falling off my bike, ok the list may be almost endless. I still sometimes have bouts of fear. Sometimes completely irrational, like being afraid of someone walking into my house and killing me, or of my kids getting kidnapped or hit by a car. Being a parent gives us lots of reasons to fear. But I have this life philosophy: Fear serves no purpose for me. You could argue that fear keeps us from jumping off bridges or walking down dark alleys, but seriously? Fear only keeps us from action, and often times, for me, from good action. If I am too afraid to let my kid experience public school because they may get teased or a teacher may teach them something contrary to my own life philosophy, they will miss out on good experiences. Experiences learning how to deal with bullys, or learning that people do all have different life philosophies. I just did an interview with a parent of a two year old and three year old. She wanted me to lock the gate on the top of my stairs because her kids do not use the stairs yet. (Note: All the kids in my daycare learned to use stairs at about 12-15 months old.) If I refuse to let my 1 year old (or younger) learn how to climb the stairs because they may fall, what am I really saying about life? "Be afraid! It isn't ok to get hurt." Not true. We are going to get hurt. I guess I think that we learn not to fall by experiencing falling. I want my kids to enjoy life to its fullest. To take risks and conquer the bully or the stairs or the... whatever. I know that some people prefer caution. I guess I just don't.