Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?

Will and I were playing outside today in our front yard. It had rained earlier in the morning, so there was a little puddle of water that had collected on our driveway. Of course, I wanted Will to push his little John Deere car up and down the neat and tidy sidewalk, but he would have none of it. He wanted to run up and down our (muddy) yard and splash in the puddle 0n the driveway.

The moment he bent down to splash in the puddle is when it hit me: almost everything in my life has become a question of is this good for my child or not? Should I allow him to do this? Is it safe? What's the best course of action? Am I being over-protective or not protective enough?

The puddle was a little dirty and of course he wanted to rub his hands in it-- and I knew those little hands would eventually end up in his mouth. My first reaction was to tell him "no". How unhygenic was that water? Is it possible the swine flu was swimming around in that murkey puddle?

I finally concluded that 1) he's a kid, 2) he's a boy, 3) it was okay for him to splash around a bit. But it was more than just a decision about playing in the puddle. It was the fact that since having a child, everything has become more difficult, more thought provoking, more challenging. I never would have noticed that puddle before I had Will, but now it became a decision for me to have to make this morning. The way everything I do now becomes an important decision that can have a positive or adverse affect on my son.

So the battle was waged in my head and ultimately, Will came out ahead: he had a hell of a time in the water. But you better believe I washed his hands--twice--when we went back inside.