What Scares the Heck out of you?

[mommyatty]

Brought to you by the illness discussion.

My kids’ complaints about headaches and stomachaches just scare the living daylights out of me! I know it is COMPLETELY IRRATIONAL, but I immediately jump to “omg, it’s encephalitis!” Or “omg, it’s a hernia that needs immediate surgery” or “it’s a appendicitis!”

[mae0111]

Drowning. We have a pool, and I regularly have nightmares that a kid is drowning in the pool. My kid, a neighbor kid, a stranger kid... but mostly DD2 because she’s so little and not a strong swimmer yet.

Lately, the fact that I have to drive 25 mins each way to and from school, and I don’t seem to sleep anymore, so I’m perpetually exhausted. I’m afraid I’m going to crash.

And today, it’s the idea that I might be going back to work and I have no earthly idea how I’m going to handle any of it.

ETA Thanks to a dream last night, I’m going to say pediatric cancer. My cousin lost his 3 year old a few years back and I honestly don’t know how anyone in his family functions.

[waverly]

Feb 16, 2019 19:50:49 GMT -5 mommyatty said:

Brought to you by the illness discussion.

My kids’ complaints about headaches and stomachaches just scare the living daylights out of me! I know it is COMPLETELY IRRATIONAL, but I immediately jump to “omg, it’s encephalitis!” Or “omg, it’s a hernia that needs immediate surgery” or “it’s a appendicitis!”

We’ve been through the hernia surgery when DS was 3 weeks old. It really was not bad at all- outpatient.

[waverly]

Car crashes especially if I am injured or dead and can’t get to the kids or if the kids are injured or dead. Death in general of anyone in my immediate family.

We’ve been through a LOT of kid illnesses and surgeries, so while scary and traumatic is not a major issue for me because I know we’ll get through it.

School and workplace shootings.

Divorce in a way because my friend is going through a horrific one like 30k in debt and her ex cuts holes in her cable lines when he comes to pick up his stuff type crazy, so I’ve seen some really nasty ones, but I know people can have amicable ones. We aren’t planning to divorce or anything just a topic of conversation when we talk about my poor friend.

Long term unemployment.

[k3am]

Easy... my kids’ brains. 😕

[rere]

Anything health related. Everything is something horrible and terminal.

Loss of our home. Terror of losing jobs, someone getting sick, etc...Technically not super realistic since we are close to paying it off, both work, we have insurance. But everytime I drop things off at the shelter, I always think...this could be us.

[traveltheworld]

DS's health. The moment he has a sniffle or complains that there's any type of pain, I panic and spiral. It's completely irrational as even though he has had some health issues in the past, he's been fine the past few years. But I just can't shake the anxiety. Honestly my anxiety over DS's health accounts for 90% of my anxiety.

[phdmomma]

Getting not tenure, because I’ll have to move my family and figure out what is next. Those stomach pains I’ve been having which are supposedly my gallbladder. The kids being really sick.

[campermom]

Oh. These answers are different than I was expecting. I was going to say: sharks.

I also have to look away and get freaked out when there is a human moving around in contorted ways in scary movies. Examples: When the girl crab walked down the stairs in the exorcist, that movie w Halle Berry where she almost hits someone in the road and they were walking all weird, and the commercials for the new Pet Semetary are freaking me out.

Seeing the original at a sleepover in 4th grade scarred me for life. I also got scared at Beetlejuice as a kid.

Finally, the movie Vacancy gave me such a reaction I had to turn it off.

[ilovelucyvv]

Drowning, including myself drowning, and serious car accidents. I still get a little anxious on airplanes but i fly so much that I’m mostly over it.

[twinmomma]

School shootings. I have to completely disconnect myself from news related to them when they happen because I just can't handle it. It makes me sick to think about. Between an entire family of teachers and my kids, it just freaks me out too much.

[rere]

I forgot, flying. Not logical, but I think I am not going to make it. I wont let it stop me from experiencing new places, I just hVe to self talk my way through it.

And Zombies. Anything zombie gives me nightmares.

[twinmomma]

Feb 16, 2019 21:00:34 GMT -5 waverly said:

Feb 16, 2019 19:50:49 GMT -5 mommyatty said:

Brought to you by the illness discussion.

My kids’ complaints about headaches and stomachaches just scare the living daylights out of me! I know it is COMPLETELY IRRATIONAL, but I immediately jump to “omg, it’s encephalitis!” Or “omg, it’s a hernia that needs immediate surgery” or “it’s a appendicitis!”

We’ve been through the hernia surgery when DS was 3 weeks old. It really was not bad at all- outpatient.

I've personally been through it twice. Really not that bad. 

[2chatter]

I really have mostly stopped worrying. One that persists is DH not buckling the kids or letting DD ride in front and them having an accident. I’d never forgive him.

I do worry that DH is or does lie to me about money, but I don’t know how much of that is exh baggage and how much is rational. DH has lied in the past about this and put us in some bad situations - nothing catastrophic as we make decent money, but more annoying/inconvenient. I actively wonder if he has another bank account as the numbers are off and a separate direct deposit would close the gap.

[mae0111]

I forgot snakes. Do not like snakes. Involuntary physical reaction around snakes. Snakes are only ok if there is some sort of physical barrier between us. Those kid parties with the creepy crawly creatures and they pull out a boa? Nope.

[sdlaura]

Feb 17, 2019 14:44:39 GMT -5 mae0111 said:

I forgot snakes. Do not like snakes. Involuntary physical reaction around snakes. Snakes are only ok if there is some sort of physical barrier between us. Those kid parties with the creepy crawly creatures and they pull out a boa? Nope.

Same. I don’t want to pas my irrational fear into my kids, so I do my best go act relaxed around them now, but it’s hard!

We also have a pool - I’m not terribly worried about my older kids since they’re good swimmers - but I do worry that the 20-month-old will figure out some way to get over the fence.

[mustardseed2007]

My kids drowning

School shootings

Me loosing my job

Top 3 fears for sure.

[mellym]

DD1's food allergy and that she's going to go into anaphylactic shock. I don't think I will ever be able to not worry about her being out of my sight. She had a coughing fit last night while in the bath tub and I immediately thought she ingested something with milk in it. Was there milk in the bath bomb? I swear I checked...Will the teacher remember to use a separate, clean ice cream scoop for her dairy free ice cream?

Drowning because we swim a lot and my parents have a pond in there backyard.

[sdlaura]

Re: school shootings, that made me think of the Atlantic article that’s making the rounds about how it’s misguided that we have active shooter drills in schools. The piece says that 150 people total (not per year), both adults and children, have been killed in school shootings in the past 20 years. Given media coverage, I thought that was a lot higher.

www.google.com/amp/s/www.theatlantic.com/amp/article/580426/

[madringal]

I don't have a fear of heights, but edges scare the crap out of me. Like on a cruise ship, looking over the edge makes me physically ill. Or seeing pictures of people stand near the edge of the Grand Canyon. It doesn't even have to be a high edge. A balcony, anything. I just immediately picture someone falling over. **Shudder**

But my greatest fear is my girls growing up without me. My mom died when I was 27 and I feel so cheated. And I can't imagine how different their lives would be if I was gone while they were still really young.

[mommyatty]

Feb 18, 2019 16:33:53 GMT -5 sdlaura said:

Re: school shootings, that made me think of the Atlantic article that’s making the rounds about how it’s misguided that we have active shooter drills in schools. The piece says that 150 people total (not per year), both adults and children, have been killed in school shootings in the past 20 years. Given media coverage, I thought that was a lot higher.

www.google.com/amp/s/www.theatlantic.com/amp/article/580426/

Which is more than have died in school fires and tornadoes hitting schools, possibly combined, but we do drills for those too. Because it’s a real possibility.

[twinmomma]

Feb 19, 2019 9:01:54 GMT -5 madringal said:

I don't have a fear of heights, but edges scare the crap out of me. Like on a cruise ship, looking over the edge makes me physically ill. Or seeing pictures of people stand near the edge of the Grand Canyon. It doesn't even have to be a high edge. A balcony, anything. I just immediately picture someone falling over. **Shudder**

This is me too! Edges like that scare me so much! 

[sdlaura]

mommyatty, I'm with you - I certainly don't mind my kids doing earthquake drills.

One of the stories in the article is about an active shooter drill where the teachers and kids were told it was real - even though it wasn't. I can't imagine how angry I would be if my kid (or me, if I were a teacher) was put through that.