When my daughter turned three last March, I knew we would be in for a world of new adventures. I didn’t quite realize, however, that those adventures would involve so much medical intervention. In the few months since her third birthday, she’s had a fractured elbow and two trips {in the same week} to urgent care with a busted chin. No, there wasn’t some major accident or illness. She’s just a daredevil. More specifically, she’s a clumsy daredevil.
She came by it naturally, really. I once flipped over the handlebars of my bike {while wearing a helmet} and suffered a mild concussion. Another time, I just tripped and fell, busting my forehead open. My husband had a similar track record as a child, with a number of stitches. As children, we were both questioned by CPS in the hospital as a precaution. {Important note – neither of us were abused or neglected.}
Still, I was not prepared. This prissy little girl who always needs to wear a princess dress, insists on matching shoes and a bow, so she can practice her twirl is the same little girl who needs to jump off steps and run like a maniac through the house. I am constantly waging an inner battle between helicopter parenting to keep her from hurting herself and letting go to just letting her be a kid.
Truthfully, all of her injuries occurred during normal activities. She just took a tumble when she fractured her elbow. She tripped and fell with both urgent care visits. But after the doctor cleaned and bandaged her chin, she stood up on the table and said “I want to jump down!”
NO. Just no.
She’s also completely unphased by all of this drama. She soaked up the attention from her hot pink cast. And she’s only upset that she can’t go swimming for a couple weeks while she has steri-strips on her chin. I, on the other hand, am researching designs for bubble wrap princess dresses.
I took an informal poll amongst my friends and family members, and it seems that there’s always one child in a family that could be classified as a daredevil. Of those polled, they all said the child grew up to be a healthy {and sane} adult. So…there’s hope. But until then, I’m going to buy stock in hair dye {to cover the greys I’ve earned}, bandages, and bubble wrap {hey, it’s worth a try!}.
