By By Connie Nowlin Managing editor
It is official. I am a bad parent.
It isn't hard to tell, just look at my son. The one with the shiner on his left eye.
Other parents will tell you that children, especially children who are learning to walk, will get bumps on their little noggins and generally look like Georgia after Sherman about 60 percent of the time. But this is the first
experience I have had with a little boy. The worst the sweet little girls did was once one had a busted lip and got some blood on a white fluffy dog she hugged.
But the sweet little girls did not insist on climbing in and out of things – like strollers – on their own. They would wait until mommy could help them, so they would not get hurt.
Not this little guy. He is still at the da-da, ma-ma, by-by stage as far as talking goes, but he has a look that says 'I will do this myself, you blasted interfering woman.' I suspect his next spoken word will be 'No.'
He is into everything, finding the things with which he can do the most damage first, things like electrical cords.
Did you know that an electrical cord can not only be used to pull the appliance or lamp off its perch, it will come loose from that box on the wall and no matter what you do with it, it will cause mom and dad to jump into action? The little guy is an expert at that trick.
It isn't that we don't watch him. I was watching him when the Great Stroller Wreck happened. It was like it turned over on him in slow motion, and I still could not get there in time to catch him.
I am not sure who cried harder, the child or the mother.
Pop is sure I am going to need sedation by the time the little guy is old enough to play soccer or football or ride rodeo. A strait jacket will be in order if he ever needs stitches or a cast.
It isn't that I am over protective. Well, ok, I am over protective, but only because I know all those things that can hurt a child.
I miss the days when I was young enough not to be so afraid, days when the sweet little girls were still little, and it seemed the world was not such a dangerous place. Now a mosquito bite can kill, and I worry too that the repellent may cause cancer 30 years down the road.
It is enough to make a parent gray haired.
And all we can do is watch and love and pray and hope.
Connie Nowlin is managing editor of the Atmore Advance and may be reached at 368-2123 or email at connie.nowlin@atmoreadvance.com