The scene: our friends' house in New Jersey, the last day of Pesach. I stopped by a friend's house with the baby, and MHH took Barak to a playground. It was a very nice playground with a shiny new climbing structure. A couple of hours later, I met up with them at home. The characters in the following dialogue: me and MHH.
Me: "How was the park?"
MHH: "Good."
"Did he have fun?"
"I think so."
"What did he do?"
"Played."
Sigh.
"Did he play on anything in particular, or just run around?"
"Um, just ran around mostly."
[Barak walks in.]
Me: "Barak, did you have fun at the park?"
Barak: "Yeah! Play onna slide."
Me: "Oh, you went down the slide?"
Barak: C'I go play inna masement?
Me: Sure, go play in the basement. [To MHH] He was into the slide?
MHH: Oh yeah. He went down a bunch of times. Both ways.
Me: Both ways meaning on his back and on his stomach?
MHH: Yeah.
Me: Or head first and feet first?
MHH: That too.
[Pause.]
Me: You let him go down the slide headfirst?
MHH: Yeah, he did it a lot.
Me: Um, did you think maybe you shouldn't let him go down headfirst?
MHH: Why not?
3 comments:
I see your point, and in any similar situation I'd probably be playing your part exactly, except with a bit more panic in my voice. But just to play devil's advocate for a second...
Barak went down the slide a bunch of times headfirst, huh?
And he's fine, right?
I'm just sayin'. Kids often have a better sense of what they can do than adults give them credit for. Not always, but often.
Um. I could say that of all the times I've been in a car, my seatbelt has never made a difference to my safety. Nor has my bicycle helmet. And my smoke detectors have never told me about a fire I didn't know about already.
Also, now that he has it in his head that it's okay to go headfirst I have to be on him like a hawk. I saw him do it at the park last week. It was terrifying. He had no control--he just flew down, and did not even try to stop himself with his hands. The child has no fear at all.
OK. I agree with you to a point. Like I said, I'm sure I'd be reacting the same way, although all the other examples you listed have more external factors to be concerned about than just gravity. But yes...I'd say lack of fear is a rather worrisome trait in a three-year-old!
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