Mama Bear

For someone who didn't really figure kids into the life plan, I am one MEAN, TOTALL BAD ASS Mama Bear. By this I mean that the rest of the world should feel free to hurt me, steal from me, annoy me, berate me, cheat me, and in general be horrible to me... but if anyone or anything in the rest of the world should attempt that on my kids? Well, let me show you what the inside of a coffin looks like.

This extreme Mama Bear protective behaviour is kind of new to me. Not that I haven't always felt this way (I have), but just the sheer ferocity with which I seem to be displaying it these days is surprising me. Generally I have a "suck it up" sort of attitude, and that attitude extends to my kids as well. In recent months, though...well, I seem to be veering away from "suck it up" and into "touch a hair on their heads and I shall Avadra Kedavra you." I actually am not entirely sure what has prompted this shift of attitude, and rather than like or dislike it I'm just surprised by it.

I'm also surprised by how MUCH I seem to be living for my kids these days. Again, not something I would have said of myself previously. It just seems like so much of what I do is motivated by them - by wanting to provide a good example for them, wanting to provide financially for them, wanting to give them more than they expect, wanting to just make their worlds as utterly wonderful as I possibly can. I don't want to protect them from the baddies of the world, because there's no way I can do that - I'm nothing if not realistic. It's more that I've suddenly come into my own as a parent, and I've realised just how important my role in their life really is. Strange feeling, that. Usually people ask me how I cope with triplets and my stock standard answer is, "You just feed them, love them, and maintain a good sense of humour," and while that's still true at the very core of it... I'm coming to realise just how much more there is to it than that.

On a related note, another mother I know recently commented that since her kids were born, she just doesn't have the stomach for some movies, books, etc. It's interesting since I thought it was just me who has experienced this phenomenon. Prior to having kids, I devoured loads and loads of crime fiction books - Cornwell, either of the Kellermans, etc etc. These days I can hardly look at a cover of one of those books without coming over all weird and creepy inside.

So it would seem as though the old adage of, "Children change your lives in ways you would never expect," is certainly true for me. Is it true for you? Have you discovered ways in which your children have changed your life..apart from the obvious of money and houses and day-to-day living?