Where Did We Go Wrong?

For the most part, I think our kids are growing up to be good, kind, happy, well-adjusted kids.  However, they all have had (or have) random fears that leave us scratching our heads and wondering where we went wrong.  It's been well documented that Briggs has had his fair share of fears:  wind, umbrellas, eating outside, fireworks, bugs, storms, movies, bad guys, any number of shows/rides at Disney World.  Many of these have improved with age and he has shown vast improvement in most of these areas.  However he has one lingering head scratcher:  Briggs gets very upset if someone else's nose is running and they don't blow it.  Like full fledged melt down if Adelie has snot dribbling out of her nose and she doesn't blow it as soon as Briggs asks her to.  Screaming, crying, throwing himself down tantrum about someone else's nose running.  Really?!

Although Adelie has often been my more adventurous and least cautious child, she has recently developed some very random and unfounded fears.  She has become pre-occupied with the thought of things breaking or falling over.  Not small things, mind you.  Things like our swingset or the bunkbeds or the porch swing or the couch or the house.  For a short period last summer, she would refuse to go in the backyard if kids were on the swing set or would freak out if I was swinging on the porch swing.  I'm not sure where these fears originated, but they leave me scratching my head when I have to assure Adelie (for the hundredth time) that our house will not now or ever break.

As Staley has gotten older, she has moved past many of her early fears.  Her early sensitivities with clothing and loud noises and "scary" parts of movies are now primarily a thing of the past.  Her still baffling emotional break downs with movie credits seem to have passed.  And although she still prefers to know what is going to happen and gets overwhelmed in new, busy, or chaotic environments, Staley is able to handle most situations without overly emotional responses.

The other day, Adelie was asking me about our house breaking and how many elephants it would take to break our house.  After I explained AGAIN that our house is very strong and very sturdy and even big animals wouldn't break our house, Briggs and I had this conversation:

Briggs:  "It's kind of weird that Adelie is scared of our house breaking, huh?"
Me:  "It's not any weirder than you freaking out when people don't blow their noses.  Why does that bother you so much?"
Briggs:  (with a shrug) "I don't know.  I guess it's just how God made me."

I used to wonder about these random fears and sensitivities.  I scratched my head and wondered where these fears originated.  I worried about where we went wrong as parents.  But now I know...it's just how God made them.  And I couldn't love them more...random fears and all.