Imagination

I was reading over at a blog called "Parents Behaving Badly" and saw the best expression - "paranoid parental imagination." Seriously I love that! It hits the nail right on the head for my imagination sometimes. Yesterday, I was at Borders bookstore with my 2 1/2 year old and he never left my sight. A little boy, a little younger than my son, was hanging around us talking to us. His mother was nowhere in sight but I could hear someone calling out what I assume was this little boys name. I looked around and sure enough 2 rows down was a woman sitting on the floor calling out his name. I was floored. I asked if that was her son and she said yes and continued to read the book on the floor, barely looking at me.

I don't understand this at all. You know why? Shortly before this incident I saw a young man wandering around the children's section "looking" for books? I"ll be honest , it didn't look like he was looking for much of anything. I went to an employee of the store and asked them to go help the young man out so he could find what he needed and leave the children's section to the kids. Sure enough, when the employee asked the young man if he needed help he immediately said no what I want isn't here and promptly left the store. It was enough for me to let my "paranoid parental imagination" go crazy. More than enough. My husband makes fun of me sometimes because I always have to have my son in sight and not more than 2 arms lengths away from me anywhere outside of our home. Even in our home I keep a close eye on him even if he is playing by himself. I'm glad he finds it amusing because in my mind it's being a good parent. Times have changed, people have changed, things are not the way they used to be. I got lost 5 times when I was little because my parents had six of us and could never keep up with us. Fortunately I was never hurt but these days that may not have been the case.

Keep an eye on your kids and let your "paranoid parental imagination" go crazy! It may just save your kid one day.