Let me tell you a personal story involving my daughter…
It’s the closing week of the Democratic party’s primary. Hillary and Barrack are going down to the wire, so Bill Clinton is in town campaigning for his wife. We decided to head down to the park where he’ll be speaking, just so we could say we saw President Clinton.
The park was only a dozen blocks from our house, so we decided to ride our bikes. I attached the baby trailer to my bike, we all put on our helmets, and off we went.
Once we got to the park, it seemed that the whole town had shown up. President Clinton was running late, so we parked our bikes next to the park’s jungle gym and let Olivia loose to play with all the other kids. Shan headed off to say hi to some friends of ours, and I stayed by the jungle gym to keep an eye on Olivia.
Eventually another parent I knew walked by, so we started talking for a bit. After a few minutes I turned around to make sure Olivia was okay, but wait… where is she?
Where’s Olivia?
Every square inch of that jungle gym was literally packed full of kids, so it was taking a little time to scan all the faces looking for her.
The relief I felt having her in my arms was so strong that I physically felt it.
Nothing. Where is she?
Okay, don’t panic. She’s here. Just keep looking.
Still nothing.
I turned away from the jungle gym and scanned the surrounding crowd. I couldn’t see her anywhere. Admittedly, I was starting to panic a little at this point.
Turning back to the jungle gym, I hoped beyond hope that somehow I missed her the first two times I looked, but she still wasn’t there.
Instinctively I rushed out into the crowd, frantically looking for her. About one minute later, I finally spotted her. She was all the way across the park near the stage, happily wandering around saying “hi” to all of the people.
Thankfully, she was perfectly safe.
I ran up to her, picked her up, and the relief I felt having her in my arms was so strong that I physically felt it.
Have you ever had a moment like this with your kids?
It’s terrible, but chances are your child was perfectly safe and sound, just like Olivia was. So where’s the boundary between being a good dad, versus being overprotective?
Last April, Lenore Skenazy let her 9 year old son ride the bus and subway home by himself—from downtown Manhattan! I understand there’s a big difference between my 2 year old daughter and her 9 year old son, but still…
My brother-in-law told me that kids are safer today than they’ve been in years, and if you look up the statistics, he’s absolutely right.
A couple years ago I was in a Super Target with my brother-in-law and nephew, who was about 6 years old. My brother-in-law let him run around the store by himself, which made me nervous enough to say something. My brother-in-law told me that kids are safer today than they’ve been in years, and if you look up the statistics, he’s absolutely right (and my nephew was fine).
It’s sad, but we’ve almost been brainwashed to freak out worrying that our kids will be abducted and harmed. We’re told that if we don’t child proof every inch of the house and watch them every moment of every day, something bad will happen.
I’m determined not to be an overprotective dad, realizing that the bad things that happen to kids are rare, and even happen to the children of overprotective parents.
Yet when Olivia takes off through the crowd, or runs out onto a busy street and almost gets hit by a pickup truck—unfortunately a true story—my fatherly instinct is to get overprotective.
What’s your story?
How would you describe yourself? Are you overprotective? Have you ever had a close call or scary incident with your children? Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comments section below.
