The Monsters Are Everywhere You Know

So, in the last couple of weeks, I've had a few opportunities to watch a bunch of kids and their parents in party-like settings, and something really interesting struck me. I'm far more protective over my kids than a lot of parents are. I'm not judging the other parents necessarily. This is just an observation.

I don't even know where it stems from. For the most part, I'm a pretty laid back individual, so this intense paranoia about my kids seems a little out of character for me. I don't think it's anything from my childhood or anything, but as discussed, I do have weird gaps in my memory, so I suppose there's a change I was kept in a pit moisturizing in an effort to avoid another attack of the hose. Who knows?

Regardless, I have this need to always know where my kids are, and I don't mean the general vicinity, I mean the actual physical location. I went to the father daughter dance, and was struck by how many kids were allowed to run off with their friends while their dads chatted with each other over cookies and punch. It wasn't as if these guys didn't care, they just weren't concerned about it. Clearly, they believed that their kids were safe here.

I, on the other hand, played the usual game. While waiting in line for the pictures (the first thing we did), I identified all of the exits to the building. I scanned the crowd for anyone who did not seem to be attached to a child, and then scanned again for anyone who was attached to a child but showing more interest in another child who wasn't currently talking to them.

Then the next day I went to a bizarre play-place (this area has a lot of children's entertainment - maybe Kalamazoo did too, but I didn't notice it). The Princess and I attended yet another birthday party, and this one was at a coffee house that had been almost entirely filled with tubes, netting, and ladders for kids to climb and run in, sort of like Chuck E. Cheese has but expanded and deeper. We walk in, make our introductions, and cut the kids loose. I then proceed to track the Princess as best I can through the netting and the tubes and whatnot.

In the meantime, the other parents (all mothers) have gathered around a table and are chatting about whatever it is they chat about. I was watching for my own, but when I glanced in their direction none of them ever seemed to look up. They were completely comfortable with their kid's safety here. So now I'm wondering if I'm paranoid and over-protective, or if they're just too comfortable with things. I suppose that there was only one exit to the place, but I could imagine how easy it would be to come in, scooping someone up, and walking out.

Either way, I have no intention of relinquishing my current tendencies. I'd rather be over-protective for no reason than to have something happen to one of my kids and spend the rest of my life questioning what I could have done differently. Besides, to paraphrase Nirvana, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not after you.