Constant State of Panic

Hello LFM Readers!

Yes, it's true: preggo's hormones tend to come and go with the tides and moons, but I like to think I've kept mine pretty much in check. But the last two days I've been in a constant state of panic.
Yesterday evening I spent a few hours at the Jessamine Riney B pool/park (as crazy as the price of gas is, I go because it's got two great slides that I'm not able to go down and I like to watch the little kids under the mushroom umbrellas). There you can spot all shapes, sizes and ages-another great reason not to feel subconscious in this newfound body of mine.
What stands out most to me though, are the kids that I can only assume haven't even made it to highschool yet, parading around in teeny tiny, barely-covering-anything bathing suits, and the boys that love to stare at them. (This is where I realize.....I'm getting old.)
I sat there on my lounge chair, covered in SPF 50 with nice dark sunglasses on, happy not to be standing out in the slightest (who, at the age of 29 wants to be oggled by tweeners anyway?) Groups of boys hoarded together and walked around the pool, making unwaving laps. Small cliques of girls did the same, only to look uninterested as the young Brad Pitt-wannabe's gawked passed and laughed when finally at a safe distance. I began to think of what this Baby X or Baby Y inside me will turn out like. I mean, there was NO WAY that my mother would've let me leave the house with suits like that on underneath my clothes, let alone to wear them without them on--and neither will my (if it happens to be) daughter!
My friend and I were sitting there wondering where these kids' parents were--did they notice what they were or weren't wearing? Did they know they were hanging out in corners of the park with boys? Holding hands? Sucking face? Smoking? Touching eachother's backsides? (Yes, I saw that a few times too.)
We began to discuss the shocking behavior of middle schoolers--on buses, at parties, in bathrooms and dances. The "doing it without really doing it" phenomenon. I've even heard about the "colored bracelet code," which tells others how far a girl will go with a boy according to what color of bracelets she wears. All of this bothers me to no end. It brings me back to how children are raised, what they're taught, morals, values, yada yada yada. I'm secure in knowing that we will raise our child(ren) how we see fit; I'm just worried about what society and their friends will turn them into when we're not around.
I'm feeling as though the only way to protect them is to go everywhere with them--as insanely hovering and controlling as that sounds :P Of course in reality, I would never do that! But how do you know if your t(w)-een is or isn't doing what you've taught them to? Do you trust your t(w)-een? What consequences do they face?
On a completely other note, I was SO nervous to watch the littlest of kids coming in and out of the water unsupervised. Granted their little ruffly suits were adorable, and you had to love the little plaid board shorts worn by the suncreen-slathered boys. But there were step-ups and step-downs on the concrete deck, bigger kids running around, waterfalls to be swept under,...I was a mess, trying not to scoop them up and steal them to safety.
Yup, it's hormones. That's what I'm blaming all of this on...right? Let me know!

Until next time, keep it under control!

Karyn Potts
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