Since summer started I have had more time to observe kids and parents in unstructured environments. I think it's funny how as time goes on I am becoming more and more like my mom when it comes to safety and such. I still consider myself laid-back when it comes to most things, but experience has taught me that it is unwise to put your children in a potentially harmful situation or to ignore when other kids do.
My friend and I were at Burger King (one of our favorite places to go since they have a nice indoor playground) and we noticed that they were getting ready to start a birthday party. They had cleared a section off and the kids were arriving. There were about 11 kids and their ages ranged from 2-9 years of age. I had my back turned towards the kids when all of a sudden my friend gasped. She said, "Look over there. There is a girl pushing another child on the high chair. I wonder if the parents know?" I glanced over my shoulder and saw what she was talking about... they were giving "rides" on this high chair with wheels and letting go. The parents were looking over at them and smiling. They didn't see anything wrong with it. I suddenly had flashbacks of when my middle two did the exact same thing except using computer chairs and one ended up at the doctor's office needing stitches. I told my friend about my experiences and then contemplated whether we should say anything. However, in that instant we suddenly heard a child crying... it was too late. One of the kids got hurt. Luckily, it was just that a little girl had her toes run over by the high chair. THEN the mom goes over and reprimands the poor little girl who did not know any better.
Earlier this week I went to our neighborhood pool and met up with some friends. We were having a very good time and kids were playing so well. All of a sudden the lifeguards whistled for "adult swim" which means all the kids had to get out of the pool for the next ten minutes. Luckily, we have a splash park and so the kids hang out there until the pool reopens. There is also a Kiddie pool and that remains open as well. I went over to the splash park to keep an eye on my three year-old. Things were going fine until he started to fuss a little about sharing a squirt gun they had. While I was dealing with THAT, I wasn't watching my #2 as carefully while he played with the squirt toy they had at the park. All of a sudden a mom comes up to me very upset and says, "Your son squirted water all over my baby's face and I am furious!" I noticed the approximately 12 month-old little girl on her hip and she seemed okay. Although we WERE at a "Splash Park" (A.K.A. "Let's squirt each other and get wet" Park) and the baby probably should not have been there, I took it seriously and reprimanded my son for doing that since it WAS a baby. I asked him why he did that and he said, "The baby was having fun." I explained that if the baby was crying (which I had no idea if she had because I didn't see it happen) then she probably wasn't having fun. THEN I made him go to the mom and apologize. She THEN proceeded to apologize to ME and said that she had issues with some of the other boys already and other things happened before we got there and so she didn't mean to get so upset with me. Well.... why didn't she just LEAVE then? I mean, why put your baby in harm's way? This is a splash park that is NOT designed for babies. That is why they had a "Kiddie Pool" and it was practically empty at the time. As a matter of fact, there were some harsh sprayers in the park and a place where buckets fill and then they dump water down REALLY hard on the kids. Some people just don't have common sense!
Moral to these stories is ... kids will be kids and we can't expect them to think like we do. If we allow them to be involved in a potentially dangerous situation then you can't blame THEM when something happens. More importantly, we need to make sure WE don't put our kids in a potentially dangerous situation. Unfortunately, some things have to learned the hard way. I have four children and so I've had my fair share of "incidents".... consequently, I have learned from them. There is nothing worse than seeing your child strapped down screaming while the doctor attempts to stitch a wound that happened from a preventable accident. I've rather hear my children cry and pout because I said, "no!" any day!
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I try to live by Murphy's Law
when it comes to accidents.
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