I am a huge chicken when it comes to my girls doing it.
photo credit
I know they need to live and learn, but sometimes it scares me. I turned out mostly fine after doing a ton of dangerous stuff. Maybe I am treating them more like girls than little adventurers.
I have a solution - I'll create a danger scale, so I can be a little better prepared how to respond to injury. This should allow me to gauge their relative danger potential and determine how to react based on that rating.
Each action will be given a rating from one to five, with the coresponding definitions:
- nothing is completely harmless, but this is as close as it gets
- crocodile tears, but no lasting concerns
- real tears, possible red mark or welt, definite shrieking
- lots of tears and wailing, definite red mark and/or bruising, possible bleeding
- tears, wailing, blood, skin grafts, trip to the hospital, possible coma
- do nothing
- do nothing
- do nothing
- be close and try to prevent injury, but mostly do nothing
- find something else for them to do so I can do nothing
If anyone has dealt with their own chicken issues? I would love to hear how you've coped.
Posts
3 comments:
I always thought it was supposed to be the mother who shadowed her children's every move. My husband has proved me wrong, though, also grading most every action (like climbing the steps, coloring, and blowing bubbles) a Category 5 danger.
It doesn't feel right that, as the mama, I'm saying, "How bad can it be? They'll be *fine*!" But somebody's gotta let them learn to use a fork, right? ;)
It's funny how much my reactions have changed with each additional child. Your post reminded me of an interesting piece in the New York Times by John Tierney entitled, "Can a Playground Be Too Safe?"
http://is.gd/4GkI5E
An actual link might help:
Can a Playground Be Too Safe? by John Tierny
Post a Comment