Post Staph! | by Mariella

We are not in the clear yet but my son is finally healing! It’s a great relief! He’s back at school today, bandaged up to the hilt so that no one else gets exposed, even though the two remaining sores are no more than two millimeters big.

My son is a very physical boy and extremely confident in his body, this may have something to do with living in an area where most of his activities involve hiking, climbing, running, jumping! Or it could be that we do not rein him in, we leave him to jump off high things and climb dodgy stuff and be a boy. We thought it was just that, him being a boy, but one day, two years ago, we realized that was not entirely true….

I had just returned home after work and was met by a very excited child saying, ‘Come look what I can do, come, come!!!’ My husband and I came around the corner to see my daughter standing at the top of the hill holding an over sized bike steady so that our son could climb on. His feet couldn't even touch the pedals and he didn't know how to ride a bike yet! Once he was on, she let go! He went bouncing down the lawn full speed as we stood, mouths agape, unable to do anything. Once he reached the bottom of the lawn, instead of braking, he simply rode, full tilt, into the bushes and got off unscathed, leaving the bike suspended in a bush, wheels off the ground, as he ran up to us beaming from ear to ear! He has an accomplice! 

This is how it is with him. He lives life to the full, and there’s no stopping him, there’s only guiding him toward minimal injury! So you can imagine how strange it was to see him out and about yesterday for the first time in weeks without us fussing over him and trying to keep him from hurting himself and finding him, well, a fraction less coordinated than usual. It was noticeable. And the obvious conclusion is this:

The more we let our kids be kids, the better they get at being kids. 

So kick your kids out the house today. Close the door on them and feed them lunch through the cat flap! Not really, but remind them of the great outdoors where a backyard can really become a jungle. Inside is great for when it’s raining and they have their entire adult lives to sit in front of a computer. 

The time is now!