The thing is I have always felt the need to protect each and every one to this date...and get a lot of 'Oh Mom'...(especially from the policewoman and military.) The time when I worried the most was when they started dating! I always remembered my own Mother stating that she never fell asleep until she heard the last one come in and lock the door. I do believe I have inherited this trait. (did I mention I was an insomniac for a long time...just like my Mother). I, also, thoroughly enjoyed the baby and toddler stage and I fear I was a tad strict in some ways...had many lists of dos and don'ts part and parcel of working in a Paediatric Clinic before I got married, thus had armfuls of info on the task at hand. And, of course, coming from a large family, rules ruled.
Well, I definitely inherited the "worry" gene from my mom, because she, too, worried about us all the time.
I remember my baby brother getting loosing track of time on day and as the clock ticked, mom went from worry, to being frantic, to seeing red. Finally out the door she went and she found him just a few blocks away from the school, playing in a large pile of raked-up leaves in a homeowners yard. Baby brother would have been around age 6 or 7 at the time.
Myself, I was fair but strict, so I know all about being firm, Ruby. The fair side of me would reason with my children, scold them, etc, whereas with my strict side they got a spanking, a grounding, or other measure of punishment/discipline that I felt was in order at the time.
I recall my mom laughing while telling me, but she used to make telephone calls to my friends mothers to check up on me, make sure I was where I told her I was going to be, and she did the same with my baby siblings.
Back in the 80's and 90's, when I had little ones running around, times were still pretty good, less worrisome than today for sure, but if I was raising little ones today, I'd be a basket-case.
