Protecting Children......

Now, before I start in on this….let me say, for those of you who don’t know me IRL.

I REALLY AM A HYPER-PROTECTIVE MOM! I promise! However, I pick carefully what to be protective about.....

I am just saying this so that the following things I say aren’t taken out of context.

Natty moved out of his crib this weekend.

We knew the MOVE was coming, but when I found him STANDING on the bar of his crib that was next to the wall (& I presume he was preparing to jump into the crib?!? I HOPE that’s where he was attempting to jump!)…….it was evident the time had arrived.

Now, this crib has served us faithfully for almost 9 years (& it was a second hand crib-bought for $60 & redone to match the room).

A lot of love has surrounded that crib.
A lot “one more kiss, Mommy!” has sounded from inside it.
A lot of kids checked on while sound asleep in it……

(OK……I am sure all of you have felt this in some small way-saying your last goodby to the crib.)

BUT…..then the debate began about what to move him into…..

Didn’t want to spend too much.
Didn’t know if we should move him straight into a regular bed (that we already have). But he just seems so little to be in a BIG bed-know what I mean? This is my baby-still in 12-18 month clothes!

So, after spending all Saturday morning at different thrift stores in town, looking for toddler beds, I finally ended up at the mecca of all things necessary for your home-WAL-MART. (Need I say? I’m not a huge fan of Wal-mart, but it’s an evil that’s hard to avoid!)

NOW…..here’s where your philosophy might differ from mine.

I had my hubby put it up & leave the “Child-safety bars" off the sides of the crib.

You know-the ones designed to keep them from falling the “dangerous” 6 inches to plush carpeted floor of his bedroom.

Why would this hyper-protective mom do that?

Because I believe that teaching them where the edge of the bed is on this little tiny toddler bed-is better than teaching him that on the BIG bed he will eventually move into.

I think here in the US- this tendency to protect our kids goes way far & above what is healthy for them.

When we allow our kids some freedoms (like the freedom to fall out of bed)-we can TEACH them about boundaries in a healthy environment.


Society today is so good at protecting children from things that won't really harm them(think about the child-safety isle at your local child super-store) -while letting things like what they watch/see/are exposed to slide. Many of these things might do more damage to them in the end.


What do you think? Have Dave & I lost our minds? Wait. Don’t answer that. ;)
(by the way, he hasn’t fallen out of his bed yet, although I think he was well on his way here!)



P.S. This post was completed in about 35 minutes for Steady Mom's 30 Minutes or Less Blogger Challenge.