I Take It All Back

You know how a few posts ago I was all, "Kids need to just play and experience getting hurt!" and "We restrict them too much, too many rules!". Well, I take it all back. Kohen rode his long board home from school one day and walked in looking like this:

And to answer your first question, no, he was not wearing a helmet, gosh darn it! He scared me half to death, all disoriented and confused. And that goose egg was about the size of a heaping Tablespoon before it was all said and done. Good grief. I was scared all evening that he had a concussion or worse, and thankfully it wasn't any worse than it was. I was so angry that he wasn't wearing his helmet. He has ridden his long board for a year now without it and never wiped out, then bam! Twice in a week. I was so scared inside that he might have hurt himself doing something stupid like not wearing a helmet. I told him so. I hope he listens. 

 The thing is, I do want my children to take risks and learn their own boundaries, I really really do. But I don't want them to be dumb about it or to needlessly put themselves in danger. And that is what you do when there is something like a seat belt or a helmet that you decide is unnecessary.

Kohen is my sensitive kid. Well, scratch that, all kids are sensitive because God gave us emotions for a reason. But he is especially so and somehow society hasn't beaten it out of him just yet. He is my kid who will stop and watch a storm roll in because it's one of God's creations and he recognizes it's breathtaking beauty. And I hope and pray that he never loses this quality. I want him to be able to jump on his long board (with a helmet securely on his noggin) and fly down the street in one moment, and the next, stop and take in the subtle nature around him. Because this ability is something unique to him, and our world desperately needs more good men who are capable of doing both.