No Matter What Age They Are

Playgrounds covered in foam padding so that children cannot bruise their knees. Children at play sometimes get hurt. I remember growing up I got bruised or scraped while playing, I would go home. My mom would clean the cut, put on an antiseptic and a bandage. If it hurt a little bit too much you would get a hug and a kiss until you stopped crying and then off you would go.

I was a bit of a tomboy and I loved to race, especially against the boys. I remember one particular time when I was racing with one of my neighbors and I looked back to see how close he was.

That was a big mistake because I ran right into a telephone pole. Yes, it hurt. But thank God it wasn’t a very serious injury. I remember lying on the ground and people looking over me but I survived.

Our society has become so sue happy that it’s surprising that we don’t have our children walking around in a protective bubble.

We also are becoming a society where we are afraid to have our children experience failure. You cannot excel in everything that you try but when you do find your niche do the best that you can. Everyone is not good at everything.

One of my older sisters was very good in athletics. She became one of the head cheerleaders in High School and I was very proud of her achievement. On the other hand, when I was in grade school and about to enter High School I was not in the best of health. Gym was not my favorite activity.

I remember always being one of the last ones picked when they picking teams for volleyball. It really didn’t matter to me because I was lousy at it no matter how hard I tried.

There are even parents today who are overprotective of their adult children.

If you have an adult child who has a disability it is one thing, but those who feel they need to protect their child against criticism are not doing that child any good.

When I was around eleven years old there was one of my classmates who used to taunt me with a racial slur constantly. I remember one day crying in the coat room in school. When my other classmates asked me why I was crying, I told them about the comments made by this particular student. Those classmates who sympathized withe me gave the taunting student a small beating. Nothing to hurt him bad, but he got the message. That was the end of that student calling me that very bad word.

Years later, when we were both attending Middlesex County College, that same classmate that used to taunt me would give me a ride home from college.

So if I as a twelve year old could rally my friends to help me out of a situation, your adult child should be able to take care of themselves, too.

People might say it was a different world back then, but some things shouldn’t change.

If you fall once, that doesn’t mean you can’t get up, dust yourself off and start over.

If you’ve never experienced failure, how can you know what success is? The latest term for this is Helicopter Parents. They hover over their kids and do everything for them. How can these kids learn what to do when their on their own? They can’t.

Are you one of these parents or another term would be Enablers?

So if you have to let your kids experience a small bruise once in while. Clean up the cut, put a band-aid on, a hug if needed and off they go.

C.M. & K.M.