While sitting here reading some of the blogs by parents with smaller children, I think back to when my kids were small. The worries were still there but it's a whole different set.
My oldest is 21 - and is living out on his own for the first time. I still lay awake at night worrying if he's O.K., is his rent and utilities paid. Does he have enough groceries? If I don't hear from him at least once a day I think he's in a ditch somewhere needing help. I have recently become his daily ride from work. His girlfriend drops him off at work at 6 a.m., comes to our house to sleep until she goes to work at 8:00 a.m., then I pick him up at 2:00 every day. Yes, it's a pain to work my day around this, but at least he's coming to my house and I can make sure he has eaten at least one meal a day that isn't just macaroni and cheese.
My middle son is 17. This winter he has wrecked his car and has caused "damage" to my car twice. We are now in the process of looking for headlights for an 87 Nissan Sentra, of which only 2 years of headlights will work for this particular car. Once his car gets back on the road, I can stop worrying as much that my car will be in another accident and I'll lose my transportation. Until then, I have to be home daily at 3:30 to make sure he gets to work on time.
Last night I brought my daughter, who will be 16 on the 29th of February to her Winter ball dance at school. 
Seeing her standing there all grown up makes me realize that we're in for the second set of worries from her now. Gone are the "mommy I need" days and here come the "she's late for her curfew days." Yes, I am a blatant "DOUBLE STANDARDS" parent with her. I keep her on lockdown a whole lot more than I did the boys. I trust her, but I don't trust 'the boys' that come around! She's my baby and I try to remind her of that daily!
So, to all you parents who have little ones - spend as much time with them as you possibly can. Once they are teenagers, trying to spend the day with them is like pulling teeth!
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