Tuesday, November 17, 2009

A Parenting Dilema

There are things that my son does on an almost daily basis that are dangerous and heart stopping for a mother to watch. Some of these things are definitely things I never want to see him do again (climbing to the top of a bookshelf), while others I admit I find myself torn between wanting to keep him safe and wanting to celebrate the accomplishment. The list is much too long to go into, but the most recent stunt involves our couch and a trampoline.

He stands on the arm of the couch (no-no number 1) and jumps from the couch onto a trampoline a good two to three feet away. As he does this I envision him propelling forward, falling off the trampoline and landing on the tile either cracking open his head or knocking out his teeth. Instead he lands and in one fluid motion begins to jump....straight up and down. He never propels forward, never seems to lose his balance. It's effortless. And it scares me to death. I can't encourage it; he shouldn't be doing it, yet the other part of me is so incredibly impressed at his sense of balance, agility, coordination, etc. I watched him do it five times before I made him stop because I wanted to make sure it wasn't a fluke. Yet, with each attempt the ease of his land the transition to jumping became more and more flawless.

Impressive feat. Nonetheless, he was told to never do that again. However, part of me wants him to show my husband when he gets home. Would it be wrong to just turn away and act like I didn't see him perfecting his stunt?

1 comment:

Joanne said...

Ooh, this one would make me nervous. If he's fatigued, or distracted, I'd fear for his safety if he slips. I'd vote no for this one :(