Changing the World One Banana at a Time
I've already shared this photo just about everywhere I can share it, but you know what? When your kid makes you breakfast, you tell the world.
MY KID MADE ME BREAKFAST.
BY HERSELF.
ON PURPOSE.
It happened the day that Sandy managed to do a whole lot of nothing here in Pittsburgh, which was a huge blessing no matter how you look at it. School was canceled just in case. I could go on and on about how back in my day we went to school no matter the weather and we walked through ten feet of snow uphill both ways (which, seriously, we did -- it's so windy in North Dakota that it is absolutely possible that you walk uphill one way and back uphill to go back because the snow has suddenly drifted in a new way). I won't go on and on about it, though. I would never, ever want to be that person who has to make the school delay/cancellation decision. Can you imagine deciding that school should go on as usual and then having a student die in a tragic car accident on the way there? Unfathomable.
I'll stick to having to juggle schedules and working at home so that kids everywhere can stay home and be safe, thank you very much.
On the day that Sandy did nothing, I spent the morning with my head buried in a laptop trying to finish some documents before a deadline while Alexis entertained herself. She could have watched TV or played with toys, but instead she chose to make me breakfast. She washed some raspberries and poured out some chocolate pudding and she sliced some bananas for me.
She sliced some bananas for me.
With a knife.
By herself.
Without me realizing what she was doing.
Obviously, nothing bad happened, but the moment that it dawned on me that she had pulled a knife out of the drawer and used it without supervision was a scary one. I had no idea she could reach the knives now, which was sort of irrelevant considering I was sitting ten feet away but had no idea she was using a knife.
So many bad things could have happened. They didn't, but they could have.
It only takes a second for the worst to happen. Every day I'm grateful that we made it one more day without living that reality ourselves.
This is where I get up on my soapbox and I ask y'all a favor. Could we please extend a little empathy when things like this happen? It was a horrible accident and there are no winners. No matter how much blame is thrown around and no matter how many excuses we make for why that could never happen to us because we are so much more careful than that mother, there is but one truth.
It could happen to any of us.
It's terrifying, but it's true. All it takes is to get lost in a fog of important work while our kids are in the kitchen grabbing knives. It can happen because we boil water on the front burner of the stove. It can happen whether we are watching them closely or look away for a second. Terrible things happen just walking down a sidewalk, while in the care of someone we trust ... anywhere.
Everywhere.
Recognizing that the worst can happen to any of us is the only way we can support and look out for one another. It's really all we can do as we teach our kids to be independent people who will some day change the world for the better.
Just as soon as they're done making us breakfast, that is.
Monday, November 5, 2012
Reader Comments (17)
I may be missing the point, but I would like to have chocolate pudding for breakfast.
Well said.
Very well said. My daughter is 2. Things can happen so quickly under the most watchful eye. None of us are perfect parents and I am sure that we can all sit back and think of a few things that could have had terrible consequences had things gone a different way. My heart breaks for that family. I can not even imagine the anguish that this mother and family are going through.
Thank you - well said!
My first thought was, "Gosh, those fences are really high, up to my chest! Ugh..." But then I remembered the time that H was walking faster than I gave her credit for, when I pulled her out of the stroller, stood her next to it, then folded over the stroller and put it into the trunk. When I turned back to her, she was already out in the middle of the alley behind the house, where people drive way too fast for an alley and wouldn't have seen a 2-foot high little person. That happened in the 5 seconds it took me to fold the stroller over and place it into the trunk.
Nice post. The rush to judgment is so gross.
Amen.
Amen.
(I'm fairly certain when the county was put on advisary as being a possilbe "state of disaster" they want schools to close for the day. Simply to keep traffic off the roads, so an emergency vehicle can get around much easier. Kids being off means many parents are off too. Pretty sure they don't need to make up the missed day of school either... fingerscrossed)
Great post...and I want to live in a house where not only does the little person make me breakfast, but the breakfast includes chocolate pudding!!
Amen. I mean, LB could have been really hurt when he got stuck in the tree (laugh, it's okay). I had been outside ALL DAY. I went inside and was there for less than five minutes. STUCK IN THE TREE.
Compassion. Empathy. Realization that no one is exempt or immune from Bad Stuff. Also, not being a jerkface helps too.
I had no idea that had happened at the zoo. How horrific for everyone involved.
I'm proud of her for using a knife correctly. That is awesome. And that breakfast looks amazing!
I do agree with what you're saying, although I think there is quite a difference between getting distracted and intentionally placing your child on a railing above an enclosure with wild animals in it. I can't imagine being that mother and having to live with that for the rest of her life. That must destroy a person. I just wish parents, in general, would be a litlte smarter at the zoo. Don't put kids on railings, don't aggravate the animals, don't let your kids climb on fences, etc. I feel horribly for that mother. I really do.
Posts like this one make the world a better place. Can I vote YOU for president?
But ther is still something to be learned here, mainly by the zoo. These dogs escaped in May and now a child is dead. It's bull that the can't make better enclosures. You have wild animals that can and have now killed someone. You need to make damned sure it doesn't happen again. Two incidents with the same exhibit in less than a year?
@Tracy - up here in Erie the school were closed, and even though it was due to a "state of emergency," apparently it still has to be made up :-/.
i know i'm a little late with this one, but you can stand on your soapbox stacked 10 feet high and preach this to the world. I actually read a comment on some news site, or facebook - who knows, that actually suggested the mother tossed her kid in just so she could sue. I haven't ever been in a fight in my life, but I seriously wanted to punch that person.