...I would be a fearless mother.

Unfortunately that's just not how I operate. I have many fears for my son and my family. I never thought I'd be a clingy Mom or someone who doesn't want to part with my son at all. Well, I'm that Mom...perhaps not clingy...but I don't like for him to go far. My biggest fear as a mother, and I think about it often, is that I won't love him enough. I'm so afraid that I won't give him enough love and support and he'll turn into one of those school shooters or grow up to be an unhappy, insecure child. I know that recognizing the fear is the first step to not allowing it to come true.

But geez...you don't know you've screwed up your children until they're grown up and it's too late. How do you avoid that? How do you know you're doing enough? How do you make sure you're giving them all the love and security they need? Even better, how do you do all of this without spoiling them or making them super clingy babies who won't go to anyone but you?

There should be an instruction manual that comes with babies. I don't understand why they thought it was a good idea to let me take a baby home from the hospital with no instruction manual. I had to do more to get a driver's license than I did to get to take this sweet little child home with me. That just doesn't seem right to me.