Stone Soup by Jan Eliot for March 26, 2013

mom needs a pacifier!

I thought they had left already!!!!

Looks like the kids are not putting a guilt trip on her, actually looks like they are trying to get away in panel 2. Believe me it is just her not wanting to leave them, a control type. Just put the child down and back away quickly, you will enjoy yourself once you are gone.

She is afraid that she won’t know what to do with herself when no longer “NEEDED.”

I don’t see it as a guilt trip or as her being a control type. She loves her children, pure and simple. She’s always with them and it is difficult for her to leave them because she will miss them a lot. Totally normal!! The kids don’t quite understand that Mommy is going away for a while, so they’re not missing her yet.

I had similar twinges when I had to leave my 10-month-old with my Mom while I went off on a week-long trip to Bermuda with my hubby and his family. You just have to let ‘em go, and it’s not easy that first time.

Are those helicopter rotors I hear…?

I’m beginnig to feel that the separation anxiety is felt more by the mothers than the children. When my daughter first attended pre-school, my wife was prepared for a major emotional session by our daughter. Instead, the four year old told my wife, “Mommy you can go now.” Talk about rough.

Yes! She is dealing with separation anxiety. It’s hard realizing someone else can take care of your child as well as you can… it makes you feel less needed. It’s normal. I remember the first time I left my baby overnight. It was hard, but I did it. That’s the difference between a little mommy guilt and helicopter parenting ~ you do it.

Give her the smell of a diaper with French background music.

oh good grief it’s PARIS, WOMAN!

The question is, what’s she more afraid of— that the kids won’t be OK without her, or that they’ll be just fine without her?

She should be glad she’s flying now, not when Obammy cuts the air traffic controller budget instead of something that is really wasteful like Air Force One flights to Paris for shopping trips.