Fall Down, Go "Boom"

Baby J is active and interested in everything. But her interest is outpacing her development at this point. She wants to explore the world but is limited by her little, off-balance body.

She falls down a lot now and bumps herself. Usually, after each moment of falling down, going boom, she's right back up again. But sometimes, she smacks her face on something. Sometimes, she whacks her head of the floor. Such events send her into a frenzy of snotty tears and howls of pain. For me, they are heart clenching moments of stress.

Naturally, I don't want her to hurt herself. I want to keep her safe. But at the same time I don't want to inhibit her intrepid spirit or to jail her in her little baby coral.

Not much fun for little Harpo*.

I think this is a dilemma all parents face. How do you balance your child's need to explore and their safety? How much should you limit their experiences in order to protect them?

I suppose it's different for everyone. For me, I'm still figuring it out. But as a teacher, I have seen that kids are more resilient than adults and that they need lots and lots and lots of opportunities to screw up. They need to fall down, go boom. I guess my job as a dad is to make sure that there is nice fluffy carpets around so the boom isn't too intense.

Listening To: Premier Symptomes by Air

* obscure reference to Finding Nemo