Submitted by Danny G., Seattle, WA
Kids get hurt. The thing is, before they’re a couple of years old, it is mostly the parents’ fault. What may seem like a safe position to leave a child in, can turn into a precarious one with a couple of rolls or a forward lean.
I remember when my twins were one month old, one night I was picking up a screaming baby (at about 4am) and in my tired state didn’t realize how far forward I was leaning. The baby’s head caught the lip of the crib headboard making an audible “thunk”. It was just a graze, but resulted in the baby wailing for a while and me feeling as though I’d just hit a koala bear with my car while the bear’s entire extended family watched… all he was trying to do was cross the highway, poor fella. Guilt ridden and teary eyed the girl and I told her mother what happened. She was worried, but not too upset. These things happen after all. Besides, kids are tough! Sure enough, within about 10 minutes, all was forgotten and the baby was happily drinking her formula.
But the guilt, it nags at you. This is of course useful so these episodes do not repeat themselves. Some Dads are even brave enough to write about them. This Dad calls his little mental lapses “brain explosions.” So if you’ve ever hit your child’s head against a headboard or dropped them on the floor because they decided to do gymnastics in your arms after their baby oil massage, let us know how things went afterwards.
All Dads want when these things happen is to know that everything is going to be ok. Though I can’t speak for every situation, the rumors you’ve heard about how tough kids are – at least in my experience – are true.
