Do Not Upset the Mama Bear

We’ve all heard those stories of moms who take on supernatural strengths to save their children, whether it’s by running down five flights of stairs in a burning building with a child in each arm or by lifting a car off a baby. The adrenaline that pumps through our bodies when our offspring are in danger is unmatched and unequaled.

Well, I’m here to let you know that the same supernatural strength also applies to when we think our children are a threat to themselves. My proof of this is when my girlfriend broke through an apartment door this last weekend to get to her 20-year-old son who she thought was supposed to be at work.

True story. I can’t make this stuff up.

It's a classic case of too many different stories being told with some details left out that can sometimes result in parents just shaking their heads at their wayward offspring. But sometimes, parents hit a breaking point where the saftey and future of their child takes precendence over manners and well, thought-out actions.

This was the case for my friend, who, as I’m listening to her tell me her tale, I had this altered version of the Rudy speech running though my head.

You’re five-foot nothin’. A hundred and nothin’ and you're wearing yoga pants. And yet you hung in there -- refusing to give up, even when no one would come to door after your repeated and incessant knocking. In this life, you have nothing prove, because you have more heart and more character than any mother I know. Now get back out there and show them who's boss.

It may not have been my friend’s proudest moment since it lacks many of the heroic characteristics of running out of burning building. But we can’t deny that it is our instinct, not matter how hard we try to ignore it at times, to come running whenever we sense one of our children is in danger.

It’s hard to stop ourselves sometimes and we will blow through any obstacle in our path if we have to, to get to our children -- no matter what age they are.

Do we need to learn to step back and let our children make their own mistakes? Sure. Do we need to recognize that making mistakes is all part of growing up? Of course. Do we need to let go a little bit each year and learn to trust our children in the choices they make? Absolutely.

As mothers, we all know these things and recognize them, even as we’re pulling our hair out and feeling our hearts breaks. But we do understand that at some point our job is done and we must let go.

But it obviously wasn't that day for my friend last weekend.

As the door broke off its hinges, my friend was finally able to get her son's attention -- along with his friends' -- and each one of them felt the wrath of a Mama Bear that day.  

So, here is the moral to this story -- never ignore a Mama Bear when she comes knocking on your door -- cause she is dangerous, she is fierce and one way or another, she will get to you.

And then she will send her husband back to fix the door.