Concerns for Moms

Just out of sudden curiosity? Taking a survey? Writing a thesis?

As a mom, what are YOUR top three concerns, I wonder?

:) Well then.....

1) Enjoy life, look for beauty and humor every day in everything

2) Do what turns you on, and whatever you do, do it extremely well and give your entire self to it, respect yourself

3) Take care of people, spread good cheer, give whenever you can

The things you listed are not major concerns to me.

:)

My 3 biggest concerns are

1) keeping them safe and healthy
2) providing for them
3) raising them to be happy productive members of society

The biggest challenges are

1) cost of healthcare and anxiety of something catastrophic or incurable
2) what if I lose my job or become disabled and cannot provide for them
3) trying not to screw them up emotionally and equiping them with life skills so they can reach full potential

I hope that I can raise my daughter to be someone who thinks for herself, who is confident in herself and makes good choices in life. I want her to reach her full potential and be someone who takes responsibility for the decisions they make. I worry about someone hurting her in some way that causes irreprable (sp?) harm. I worry about her being influenced by the wrong people as she gets older. I hope that I am giving her the tools she needs to be successful in life on her own and to achieve her dreams.

Safety (ensuring their safety & teaching them how to safeguard selves)
Providing for them (food, shelter, love & safety)
Teaching them to take care of themselves when they become adults ($,
401k, jobs, career & how to go after the things they want & their dreams)

1 Are they happy?
2 Real self-esteem.
3 Finding more time in the day. (really does it have to stay 24 hours?)

My biggest challenge is other parents. It is hard to get a child to accept the world does not revolve around them when they can see it revolves around their classmates. Trying to instill that drive to keep pushing themselves to be better than they need to. Teaching them that it doesn't matter if the world pats you on the back, that only you know when you did your best.

3 Main Concerns:
1) Raising them to be Happy
2) To be self-sufficient and well-rounded
3) To Find their purpose and contribute to making the world a better place

Challenges:
1) negative influences (bullies, negative role models)
2) societal pressures and stressors
3) balancing activities/options

I would answer like Wendy: Had you asked this 5 or even 10 years ago when I had 4 under 4 (3 of them boys) I would have said something like "that they would live at peace with each other, take their naps and not burn down the house!" However, now that they're all teens and I've got my oldest out of the house, My concerns are more along the lines of 1. that they think critically of what they hear and see and work to know their own mind and what they think of it all. 2. that they strive to be excellent in their work and school "as unto the Lord". and 3. that they don't worry about things that they can do nothing to change. the news is great at keeping us informed. It's also great at keeping us worried and frightened about the world and the future. since these are things we can't change, there's no sense worrying about them.

When 4 of mine were under age 5 my answer would have been very different than now :)

Now at 10, 12, 14, 16

1)My biggest concern is teaching respect and compassion for others and themselves - I lean on Luke 10:27 culture in the house "He answered, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”

2) I am concerned that they have drive and desire to accomplish what they are gifted in. I look to everyday people who have done this to point out what it took for them to get there.

3) I am concerned about the amount and type of video games they play. I don't want it interfering in the first two goals. For this I try to have other enjoyable things to do around the house.

More than anything I realize that our concerns for our kids are very personal and won't be the same for everyone. After all, we all come from different backgrounds, have different things to overcome and children each have different directions they want to go. That realization helped me feel not so guilty when I would see a mom working with her child on say, manners and I wasn't. For a while I would try to work on everything at once and drive myself nuts!

3)