If you have kiddos, you know the feeling: you’re a perfectly sane and rational person one moment; then you get a WHIFF of ‘danger’ for your child, and you turn into a WILD ANIMAL ready to fight to the death for your little one.
It’s the MAMA BEAR instinct.
Overall, I think our protective instincts as parents are a GOOD thing. And It’s evolutionary – even dinosaurs had maternal instincts!
I do, however, wish I could control the impulse a bit better. Because, rihgt now, my ‘mama bear’ impulse doesn’t decipher between MINOR incidents and major incidents; the ‘hulk’ within me erupts at any and all infractions toward my child.
The hurt look on my daughter’s face when she asks another child to let her see a toy and that kid snaps “NO”!?! CAREFUL, Kid; you may as well have attacked my child physically for all my ‘mama bear’ instincts seem to care. And, undoubtedly, my ‘mama bear’ also comes out in life threatening or dangerous situations. But it just seems that the rage, the NEED to protect, is just as intense regardless of the situation.
Have kids changes us. Let’s be honest, I’ll never look at a trampoline the same way again. But it doesn’t just change our BODIES, it changes our brains too. My body is now hard-wired to respond to my children in a way that I cannot even understand or control.
BUT I DO understand that I need to harness that protective energy and use it only for good. Even though I instinctively want to interfere with every danger in my kiddos’ path, I don’t want to unintentionally damage their self esteem and social skills by not correctly teaching them how to handle risks.
SO…I’m working on it 😉
Have you found a good balance with your mama bear instincts? Have you ever found yourself blind with rage over even a small incident involving your child?
If you missed it on Hot Country Mornings, have a listen to our conversation about the Mama Bear Instinct:
