I think it maybe more overprotectiveness than anything. I was the same way when my boys were little and now that they are older, I know I have to give them their space to do their thing and I can't be with them 24/7, but I do make sure they call and check in with me every couple of hours. It's hard. I sat them all down and told them how much I love them and worry about them and asked that they tried to understand why I was the was in regards to their safety. They have since thanked me for that since they have gotten older. They said it told them exactly how much I loved them.

YOU RE JUST A MOTHER WHO LOVES HER HILD RARELY SEE THAT TODAY

Being a mother myself I found out you cannot protect your children from everything. I use to panic or be anxious about my kids falling or getting hurt but in time I found that is part of being a child.

Your child is your responsibility and it isn't important what the other parents think of your parenting skills. I think if more mothers watched their children as closely as you do there would be a lot less injury and tragedy where our kids are concerned.

Its very hard to not have anxiety about the welfare of your child(ren), you probably always will to some point, I know I will. But the way I see it is you cannot keep everything bad from happening to your child, think of all they will miss out on if you are always trying to keep them from doing things that may or may not hurt them. Basically breathing air is hurting them. Eating food that has been sprayed with insecticides, growth hormones given to cattle, chemicals in the soil that our food grows in, I mean there are a lot of things that can be harmful, but that is part of life. As far as the high windows that is a very valid concern and my suggestion would be to put a hardware mounted baby safty gate inside the window seal, they make special gates that go inside the windows. That way you can open the window and not have to worry about the baby falling. I guess I am just rambling on but my point is that part of growing up and learning life skills comes from the bangs, bruises, stitches and broken bones you have in your childhood. You dont learn to hold on at the top of the slide unless you have fallen off once or twice!!

I think it is harder when kids are young. Mine are 9 and 11, and it's taken a long time to step back. I used to be overprotective. My older son was having problems with anxiety. His counselor gently told me to let him experience being successful in this world. The notion is that he can handle himself. I needed to let him be more independent.

I have to say that I still get pretty anxious. I'm usually able to keep it away from my kids. I was flying last weekend and the guy sitting next to me was gripping the armrest with every bump from turbulance. I grip the seat with my legs and try to stay relaxed with my upper body. My kids don't catch on to how nervous I am flying.

Allowing a child to comfort themselves and feel some independence helps them feel confident.

I soo understand what you are saying. My son has ADHD and is often too active for his own good and often times does not even seem to feel pain and does not know when to stop. I think it is good that you are thinking ahead on behalf of your child, not only for their physical safety but the emotional safety as well. Transferring anxiety to your child is possible. It is almost like a learned behavior. I have talked this over with my therapist also. It is important that children have age appropriate 'freedoms' and with that freedom comes the small possibiity for harm. Example, the freedom of riding a bike brings the possibility he might fall and skin his knee, etc. As best you can try and tell yourself the worst case scenario and work through that. Lets say he did fall and hurt himself. Then What? He will come to you, you will wash his wound and tell him he will be okay. And he will be okay. It is so important that we allow a childs confidence the opportunity to grow, otherwise they will grow to be a nervous wreck and be afraid of many, many things. That is like living in a cage- been there done that. I think it is important that you are being proactive with this. Also, tell yourself when you feel anxious about 'something' What are the possibilities versus the probabilities.(this has helped me LOTS) Example, it is possible your son could fall out a second story window. But, what is the probability? VERY unlikely, expecially because he can barely reach as you stated. Those are some things to consider. I hope it helps.