For me it comes down to the fact that I, their mother, am the one who knows my child better than anyone else. I am the one who knows that my sister had a severe allergic reaction to the copper in her IUD and, since she was born from the same parents that I was, my child should probably be tested for metal allergies to insure she gets the proper kind if she wants one. I know I have bad reactions to flu shots but have never been taken down by the flu, so it may not be worth it for them to get them, but if they do get one, I need to be watching over them in case it doesn't work out so well. I know I have suffered severe migraine attacks which run in my family, so we need to be careful about the kinds of things my children are exposed to in order to avoid problems for them. I know my father was a schizophrenic and that it tends to skip generations and that I had a really, really bad reaction to Chantix, so we best be careful what types of drugs they may be put on and keep a close eye on them if they are put on meds that could cause dementia.
I've also been accused of "false imprisonment" for grounding them, "abuse" for expecting them to behave like civilized human beings in public and "emotional abuse" for telling my eldest she was looked like a slut and making her change her outfit when she was 13 years old only to have her thank me later when she was 17 yrs old and one of the girls at school was being treated like a slut because she dressed like a slut.
I am also the one who will run into a burning building to get them out and I am the one who will kick the ass of anyone who would pull me out before them. Gawd help anyone who would perform any type of medical treatment on my underage child without my knowledge.