This post is sponsored by Stuff Fibre
The Things I Worry About As A Parent
Want to know what I worry about as a parent? Everything. EVERY FREAKING THING.
I worry that they’re going to be picky eaters their whole life. I worry they’ll NEVER sleep through the night. I worry our house isn’t big enough to hold us and our kids. I worry the house is too damp and that my kids will get sick. I worry when my kids get sick. I worry my kids won’t like me when they grow up. I worry about what school to send my kids to … I worry about everything.
When I was growing up, I’m sure my parents worried as much as I do: worried we were hitting all of the milestones at the right time, worried we would be ok at Kindy / Daycare / School, worried we would make friends or even that we would get bullied. I don’t doubt that they worried, but what I worry about now is quite different to what they used to worry about!
Here are some things that have weighed heavily on my mind, AND STILL DO:
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The Usual Stuff:
Ya know, the “how many words are they saying” or the “they haven’t walked yet is something wrong” type of worry. The milestone worries. I think we all have those, and we will continue to have them. It’s natural to worry your child isn’t doing something – especially if you know of babies at a similar age. It’s very easy to compare ourselves to others, even when we know better. I also worry about what I feed my kids … I don’t want them to be judged for what they eat, but I also want them to eat …
The Pre-School / School Stuff:
I worried a lot about whether my kids were ready for Kindy and School. I always worried I was making them do something they weren’t prepared for – but they always managed to step up. I was always prepared to keep them home until they were ready though.
The Bullying Stuff:
I was bullied as a teenager and it was horrible. I am constantly worrying my children will be bullied, or be the bully-er. It’s always on my mind and I hope I can instil some good values into my children so that they know to stand up for themselves, and to not be mean to others.
The Internet Stuff:
This is a pretty big worry, as the internet brings a whole new range of problems for us parents. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Google Plus, Snapchat: all of these ways to chat with people and view the world. All of these ways to bully someone, or to be exposed to things children shouldn’t be exposed to. Currently my kids are 3, and 5, so the most they use the internet for is YouTube; but even then it’s concerning!
As they grow up though, they will want to use social media sites and that scares me a bit. My parents didn’t grow up with it, and neither did I; so as parents WE are paving the way for generations ahead of us. We are the ones who make the mistakes now so that others don’t get it wrong.
I was recently asked to review the Stuff Fibre services, in particular the SafeZone feature. Basically SafeZone filters out any adult content, social media sites or anything you don’t want your kids being exposed to.
SafeZone is a free service, and works within your fibre connection, so it applies to every device connected to your home network, making the internet a safer place. The set up is very basic (if I can do it, so can you).
Essentially once you have Stuff Fibre, you have access to SafeZone. From there you can select a profile that fits your family (Young Child, Young Teen, Mature Teen, Open). Once you set it up, you can then customise which content your children have access to.
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I don’t want to have to “control” my kids like this, but reality is there is a lot of stuff out there that I don’t want my kids being exposed to. Not at a young age.
Sometimes when they’re on YouTube they come across adult content (not THAT type of content but they could easily find that too!). With SafeZone it means they think they’re getting the freedom to “browse” without being exposed to the nasties.
The same goes for when they’re older – when they’ll try and access those social media sites without me knowing. SafeZone will stop that from happening.
I like to think of it as holding my kids hands while we cross the road. They’re still able to walk across, I’m not carrying them, but I’m guiding them at the same time to ensure they’re not harmed. AND I’m teaching them to look out for the dangers along the way.
I realise we can’t protect them forever, but some things do need worrying about – and the internet is one of them.
What do you worry about as a parent?
Thank you Stuff Fibre for having SafeZone out there for us parents. This is a sponsored post, however all words and opinions are my own (unless specified).
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