New Dad, New Fears
Everyone is scared of something, even if they pretend they are invincible to fear. It's just part of human nature. Most commonly people are terrified of spiders, heights or the deep dark oceans that surround every land mass on the planet. However becoming a parent opens the gate to some of your worst fears that a father such as myself never knew could exist.
Most of these new fears have allot to do with your child becoming injured or put in danger. I hate to put it down in words, but by far the scariest thing you could ever think of once having a child, is that child losing their life. Reason being that for some people around the world, this tragic nightmare has become a reality, and no one that hasn't been through the same torture could begin to imagine the emotional pain this would cause.
Even just a broken bone or a big bump on the head can send a caring parent into a spin. Though you do have to let kids be kids, so unfortunately non life threatening injuries are not so uncommon. No matter how hard you try to make your surroundings safe, children always seem to find a way to cause themselves physical pain. And yes, seeing the injury is the scariest part of an incident, but never underestimate how much your heart can hurt just from hearing your child scream and cry.
Another ever present fear for parents everywhere is that their little treasures won't love them back. I don't feel that I myself have felt this with my little ones so far, but then again they are still toddlers. So there is a lot of time left for me to hear those dreaded words, 'I HATE YOU'. If I had to take a guess however, i'd bet that most of the time you hear this from your child, they most probably don't actually hate you. Growing up with younger sisters I can say from experience that kids can just be damn right mean sometimes to their loving mother or father. Usually when they don't get their own way.
This last one you can't take in the wrong way, and it is one of my worst fears. Now I will always love my children no matter what they do in their lives because as many other parents out there will agree, love for your children is unconditional. That doesn't mean to say that I don't want my children to grow up smart and successful, or at the very least comfortable and happy. Because most people out there whether they will admit it or not want the same, and if expectations are not achieved I feel as though I would be disappointed. I can feel the rage some people are feeling right now,'how could he feel disappointed in his own children'. I feel you, but I cannot help my emotions, that is just how I believe I would feel and it really does scare me. I'm not critical I promise, I just want my kids to have the best life they possibly can because I myself know how hard life can really be.
Above is clearly not all the fears that having a child brings to the table of life, but I feel they are the more common ones that a lot of parents out there experience. I would say I know more dads than mums out there that pretend fear is a mindset they just don't have. But lads, its a natural emotion, so put your pride aside and embrace this new found fear in fatherhood.