A Stitch (Or Four) In Time

No matter how much you try to protect your children from the dangers of the world, there comes a day when something happens that is completely out of your control.  Your child gets hurt and there was nothing you could have done to prevent it.  I thought about this last night while I lay in bed, my girls sleeping on either side of me (thunderstorm + out of town daddy = slumber party with yours truly).  It's never the best night of sleep for me, but I cherish it when it happens.  It just feels safe.

A few years ago, my daughter fell and got a bad cut on her face.  After it happened, I was completely overwhelmed by panic, dread and a feeling of complete helplessness.  I have never been so scared in my life - there was so much blood.  Do you ever play scenarios out in your head to test out how you will respond if they happen in real life?  Well, let's just say I handled all of this much better in my head.  Thankfully, the cut was confined to the skin under her eyebrow and a plastic surgeon friend gave her four stitches hidden in the hairline.  You can hardly see it at all anymore - she was very lucky and very brave.  When the stitches came out, I saved them in an envelope and taped them in her baby book.  Gross?  Maybe.  But I am a saver and stitches seem like a childhood rite of passage - like losing a first tooth or riding a bike without training wheels (preferably not at the same time).  

I think about all of this once in awhile to remind myself how important it is to make our environment as safe as possible for our children.  From staircases and stoves to swimming pools and electrical outlets, there are a lot of potential dangers inside a home - and outside.  Earlier this afternoon, my other daughter nearly ran out into oncoming traffic because she was frightened by a big dog passing us on the sidewalk.  Things can happen in a second.  I relay these stories not to make you paranoid parents!  Raising children, like most things in life, require balance - and in this case that balance is between keeping them safe and encouraging their independence, confidence and self-reliance.  Sometimes those things seem mutually exclusive, but stick with it because it seems to be the path to becoming an emotionally healthy person.