Let’s discuss Markos’ comment on dailykos about the death of Steve Irwin.

I’ll never understand parents who put themselves in such positions of danger knowing that a misstep can leave their children without a parent.

I am not a parent, yet I can very much identify with his comment.  I lost my father over twenty-three years ago and have been very protective of my mother ever since.  With the exception of being away in college, I have lived with my mother my entire life until this past fall when I got married and moved out West. My mother lives in Florida and I call her three to four times a day to keep up with her and every time she answers the phone the first thing I ask is if she is okay.
My fear of losing my only living parent leads me to an irrational behavior of over protectiveness.  And since I have no control over her life my feelings of helplessness makes me depressed and afraid. If I ever become a parent I have a feeling that I’d be the same way with my child — I will defiantly be the over protective parent constantly worried about my child.