5 Worries Parents Should Drop, And 5 They Shouldn't

"These worries that we have are so rare," says Christie Barnes, mother of four and author of The Paranoid Parents Guide. "It's like packing a snow shovel in case it snows in Las Vegas"

Based on surveys Barnes collected, the top five worries of parents are, in order:

1.Kidnapping
2.School snipers
3.Terrorists
4.Dangerous strangers
5.Drugs

But how do children really get hurt or killed?

1.Car accidents
2.Homicide (usually committed by a person who knows the child, not a stranger)
3.Abuse
4.Suicide
5.Drowning

Why such a big discrepancy between worries and reality? Barnes says parents fixate on rare events because they internalize horrific stories they hear on the news or from a friend without stopping to think about the odds the same thing could happen to their children.