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Life is funny sometimes, giving you what you need to hear when you need to hear it.
Just last week I was talking about worry - how much I worry - theridiculous life changing things I worry about.
Then down from the cyber heavens an NPR article, 5 Worries Parents Should Drop And 5 They Shouldn't, lands in my lap. Considering it's been quite some time since anything landed in my lap, I got a little excited.
According to the article, most parents are worrying about all the wrong things.
Based on surveys Christie Barnes, mother of four and author of The Paranoid Parents Guide, collected, the top five worries of parents are, in order:
1. Kidnapping
2. School snipers
3. Terrorists
4. Dangerous strangers
5. Drugs
But how do children really get hurt or killed?
1. Car accidents
2. Homicide (usually committed by a person who knows the child, not a stranger)
3. Abuse
4. Suicide
5. Drowning
Barnes insists that it would be easier on parents if, "every news story came with a little warning at the bottom that said, 'Even though this is very tragic, this is 1 in 10 million, 1 in a million or 1 in 20'. "
Damn media! You mean they sensationalize things??
This unnecessary worrying, Barnes argues, is detrimental to parents, causing health issues and negatively impacting parent relationships with other adults. Not only that but focusing on rare dangers distracts parents from the dangers that matter. *gasp*
Now, I do take issue with one of the items that didn't make the real list - drugs (and alcohol). I think it's likely that the survey data was from parents of the under 10 crowd ... because we know I would never worry about some psycho picking up my 14-year old son, in a van, on the first day of school and taking him to parts unknown ... but I do have concerns about drugs and alcohol.
What does Barnes suggest. She says that according to her research, making kids wear protective gear and buckle up in the car cuts kids' chances of death by 90 percent and their chances of serious injury by 78 percent.
Hmmmm ... I think I'll go out and stock up on duct tape and bubble wrap so that I can focus my worries on homicide and suicide ...
Life is funny sometimes, giving you what you need to hear when you need to hear it.Just last week I was talking about worry - how much I worry - the
Then down from the cyber heavens an NPR article, 5 Worries Parents Should Drop And 5 They Shouldn't, lands in my lap. Considering it's been quite some time since anything landed in my lap, I got a little excited.
According to the article, most parents are worrying about all the wrong things.
Based on surveys Christie Barnes, mother of four and author of The Paranoid Parents Guide, collected, the top five worries of parents are, in order:
1. Kidnapping
2. School snipers
3. Terrorists
4. Dangerous strangers
5. Drugs
But how do children really get hurt or killed?
1. Car accidents
2. Homicide (usually committed by a person who knows the child, not a stranger)
3. Abuse
4. Suicide
5. Drowning
Barnes insists that it would be easier on parents if, "every news story came with a little warning at the bottom that said, 'Even though this is very tragic, this is 1 in 10 million, 1 in a million or 1 in 20'. "
Damn media! You mean they sensationalize things??
This unnecessary worrying, Barnes argues, is detrimental to parents, causing health issues and negatively impacting parent relationships with other adults. Not only that but focusing on rare dangers distracts parents from the dangers that matter. *gasp*
Now, I do take issue with one of the items that didn't make the real list - drugs (and alcohol). I think it's likely that the survey data was from parents of the under 10 crowd ... because we know I would never worry about some psycho picking up my 14-year old son, in a van, on the first day of school and taking him to parts unknown ... but I do have concerns about drugs and alcohol.
What does Barnes suggest. She says that according to her research, making kids wear protective gear and buckle up in the car cuts kids' chances of death by 90 percent and their chances of serious injury by 78 percent.
Hmmmm ... I think I'll go out and stock up on duct tape and bubble wrap so that I can focus my worries on homicide and suicide ...
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10 comments:
I worry about everything. She could slip on a toy at the top of the stairs..she could slip in the magical tub and drown.. she could have a jet fall out of the sky and land on her.. I'm just a worrier.. It's what I am.. I embrace it. I can't change it and she has come to accept it as part of her Mom. It works for us..
My five top worries for Ryno:
1. Bad Grades
2. Car Accident (He just got his Permit)
3. Not getting what he wants out of life; he can be lazy.
4. Getting what he wants RIGHT NOW out of life; he's handsome and charming.
5. Knocking someone up (see Number 4.)
Cheers Dana!!
5.
I'm also a worrier. I think it's a mom thing.
Interesting.. I have a different set of worries for each of my kids. I can kinda pick out the possible future stoner and future deadbeat. But I do worry about them all drowning and dying in a car wreck. Morbid I am. I also worry about gang violence, interesting that did not make the list. Love the pic.
People will always worry about the ones they love. It's only natural. But, if you let them, the media will scare you so much you never let the kid leave the house or venture more than 4 feet from you until they turn 30.
Every single crime is so sensationalized by people like Nancy Grace that people really do believe that kids are being snatched up from parks and their own backyards by the millions every single hour. People need to chill and stop letting the media scare them so much.
Wait! You mean I was supposed to worry?! You're going to have to fill me in on what I missed out on.
Having raised two children to adulthood, the drugs and alcohol is definitely something to worry about.
Due to a family history of alcoholism, my kids were told about the dangers/problems that drugs and/or alcohol present. They were told early and often yet both had their experiments. Luckily, they both lived through their drinking binges and drug dabbling although on separate occasions, each one landed in the hospital because of alcohol when they were too young to drink.
I really never worried about kidnapping because I know that they'd terrify the kidnapper and would be returned, pronto!
I think you hit the nail on the head here Dana...this totally rocks.
Yep! I worry all the time as well. I have got some better. But the list just changes with age.
Like The Queen mentioned he & I have come to accept it.
Matt My list is very close to yours.
But I still can not let go of the kidnapping. I have had that since I was pregnant.
Great post!!
Excellent, Dana!
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