No matter how much you might look forward to it, becoming a parent for the first time is a period that is often fraught with worry. Some worries are expected while others less so. Regardless, everyone has them to some extent. There’s no doubt about it, whichever way you look at it, having kids is a scary business.
The Post Office ran a survey to find out what people worried about when they became parents. Of the top ten parent worries, the survey revealed that 46% of parents that responded stated that they worried about freak accidents happening. This was closely followed by by not knowing how to parent. 37% of parents worried about what would happen if they or their partner died. This was one of my two greatest worries.
I was 18-years-old when I had my first child. Mike and I had been childhood sweethearts and had broken up. I had got into another relationship, ran away from home due to circumstances and went from the frying pan into the fire. I spectacularly bummed out of college and fell pregnant. The relationship became more abusive and I was responsible for this tiny being. Seriously, how have I never been on Oprah?
I was scared of so many things. As well as not having a clue what I was doing or how I was doing it when it came to babies in general, I was very aware that this small human was reliant on me to keep him safe.
Me.
Only me.
After a particularly terrible couple of events, I realised that eventually would come a point when I might be killed or be pushed to take my own life. I packed a changing bag with a few supplies, grabbed my six-month-old baby and ran.
I was homeless, jobless and had £1.62 in copper coins in my pocket that I managed to scoop out of a penny jar that I was forbidden from touching.
Suddenly, now I really was the only thing my child had. If anything, anything should happen to me… That was pretty overwhelming and the only thing that scared me more than turning out to be a mother like my own, which was a prospect that terrified me in itself – and still does. Unfortunately, the situation I found myself in might not be as extreme or unusual for women of all ages, everywhere, as we might like to think.
Thankfully, life did turn around and I am a world away from the one I was in then. Mike and I got back together a few years later and our family grew. It turned out that once I threw out the parenting magazines and their conflicting advice, stopped listening to everything that seemed to criticise me and learnt to trust myself and in my own instincts more, my confidence grew and I became more self-assured in myself.
The circumstances might have changed over the years to how they were when I first became a mum, but with each of the children’s births came the added responsibility of ensuring they were provided for, whatever might happen, so taking out a life insurance policy was a must. Should the very worst happen to one or both of us, at least our children would be taken care of.
Life insurance is one of those things we tend to put off doing, for one reason or another, but Post Office are making parents an offer they can’t refuse. Hands up who would like FREE life insurance cover for a year… per child?
That’s right, Post Office are offering parents a year of free life insurance cover of up to £15,000 per child. Each parent can apply and there is an eight child limit, meaning even us larger families can take advantage of this fabulous offer, but your children do need to be under the age of four at the time of taking advantage of the deal. For example, if you have three children under four and two parents take out a policy, you’ll get £45,000 of cover each free for a year. If you have the maximum limit of eight children and each take out a policy, that’s £120,000 of cover each. Best of all, taking advantage of this offer is absolutely free to do. Click over to the Post Office free parent life cover page on their website for more info.
Parenting might continue to be a scary business and all we can ever do is hope for the best, but at least you can rest assured knowing that you are covered should the worst happen. And even better that it’s for free!
This post was written in collaboration with the Post Office.
I find your family to be amazing. Thank you for sharing your stories.
Thank you, Shelby!
That is my absolute biggest fear. Anything happening to myself, my husband or any of the children. Life can be so cruel. Yet for some reason life insurance always seems to be way down the to-do list. I really need to make it a top priority. x
your family is simply adorable, thanks so much for sharing your life with us