An Unashamedly Over-Protective Parent

I can only imagine the distress that April's parents must be suffering at this awful time; the uncertainty, fears of the worst and, I would imagine, a huge amount of self blame; those inevitable what-ifs and if-onlys. My heart goes out to the them.

What has happened to April is every parent's worst nightmare. My son is fourteen and he cannot understand why I won't let him hitch home from friends' houses and insist that he sends regular texts when he is away for a night. He is even more baffled by my refusal to let him go, with a seventeen year old school friend, to an Enter Shikari gig in London (bearing in mind we live in Ireland!) later this year. "I'll be fine," he says. "My friend is seventeen," he says. "Nothing is going to happen to me." And he might be right, but I'm not prepared to take that risk. 

I have always been unashamedly over-protective of him. Whilst I like to think that humankind is on the whole, decent, kind-hearted and civilised, the abduction of April and all those before her only serve to reinforce my convictions that things CAN and DO happen to vulnerable children and teenagers (who think they are older and more mature than they really are).

I do remember what it is like to be a teenager, and although very rare in my day, children were still abducted (I was the same age as Genette Tate when she was abducted in 1978. I also had a regular newspaper delivery round.) But, like my son, I just didn't think about it. It was something I'd heard on the television but it didn't have much impact on me. I also remember not understanding my mother's furious reaction when I arrived home at midnight, having been off on a treasure hunt with a friend's family without informing her of where I was going, when I was about 15. It did not occur to me, that she might have been worried. I feel very sorry for what I put her through now and I know that one day, my son will understand too.

In the meantime, I will continue to neurotically over-protect my boy until such times that I feel happy he is able to protect himself - even then, I expect I'll find it difficult to loosen the reins.

Let us all hope and pray that poor little April Jones is found alive and well very soon.