Parenting Fears: Five Years of Parenting Didn’t Prepare me for This!

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I can’t believe it! My baby is turning five in a few short weeks. This is a huge milestone, not just for her but for me as her mother.

Five years ago, I was a completely different person. My priorities have changed, my whole outlook on life itself has changed. I once was a fearless young adult with little to no worries in the world. And now the world scares me. Parenting fears are real. Five years of parenting didn’t prepare me for this.

Being a parent has brought my anxiety to a whole new level. I now constantly worry about perverts, vaccinations, medications, the food I feed my family, the products we use, how wasteful we are, if my baby is having a good day at preschool and is happy and safe without me there to protect her.

Since the day I found out I was pregnant with her, I’ve prayed that she would always be healthy and happy. And praise Jesus, that’s exactly what I got! Skylee was the easiest baby; I had her sleeping through the night at 3 months old. No health scares and potty trained before two years old. When we dropped her off at preschool she wasn’t the one crying. Mommy and daddy may have had tears but not Skylee.

We’ve trusted about a handful of family members to watch our kiddos. But I went ahead and trusted a few sweet ladies from our church preschool with my baby. She was the youngest child to ever attend that school. In fact, they changed the rules just for Skylee because they had never had a child younger then 3 who was potty trained attend there. Each day at pick-up her teacher, the preschool director, would tell me how Skylee amazed her that day. Even though she was the smallest in her class (and in her whole school) if she wanted to see something taller then her, she would run over to the art easel and pick up the step stool and carry it over to wherever she needed to be taller.

A few years have passed and she’s a few inches taller and now I have to start considering elementary schools. Luckily me being an over-thinker, I began researching the schools I was interested in back in November. To my surprise, I found out that if you want your kid to get into a good school you must apply November 2019 for the 2020-2021 school year. This required me to download an app, create a family profile, fill out forms and schedule a school tour, which required a quick background check before even entering the school. This is a very modern yet traditional school that is very secure, which we like.

A few weeks later, I received a text that Skylee was accepted to this charter school for the following school year. I had a short amount of time to accept and fill out a 27 page enrollment form. I did so, but my parenting fears kicked in and I still worry that it might be a very overwhelmingly transition for her. Going from a small faith-based school with a maximum of four classrooms to a huge 1200 student, K-8 elementary school was a big step. I know I first began experiencing anxiety in elementary school, not even knowing what it was or how to stop it. I would freak myself out so much during state testing that I would end up in the school nurses office. Although, I know Skylee is way more prepared then I was at that age, and she’s much more confident and outgoing then I ever was, it still makes me nervous.

As much as the world scares me, I can’t wait to see what she does in this world! Right now, she says she wants to be a scientist and work on experiments all day. Watch out world, Skylee’s turning five! 

What are some ways parenthood has taken you by surprise? Share your unexpected parenting fears in the comments.

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