Kids haven't learned fear yet. I remember Brenna before she could walk, twisting, arching her back, fighting like mad to get away from me at times, completely oblivious to the fall she'd take if she were successful.
She'll step right off her changing table even today, confident that Mommy or Daddy, standing nearby, will catch her.
This is why the house is "babyproofed." It's why there are tricky gadgets over the wall outlets, nothing but toys on shelves less than four feet off the ground, annoying latches on drawers, and a gizmo on the basement door knob so that it can't be turned without hands much larger than a toddler's. Brenna's willingness to put herself unknowingly in harm's way makes Daddy's hair turn gray.
We went to Dairy Queen recently. It's kind of a large stand, with just a couple of benches outside for people to sit on. Those benches, and the pavement around them look as if they were coated in melted ice cream and then left for a few years. The red benches have black splotches all over them where dirt has stuck to wet sugar.
Brenna wouldn't hesitate to eat off those benches if some ice cream fell on them. It's ice cream after all. Daddy's thinking "bubonic plague."
I'll say this for fearlessness, though. Brenna loves insects. I've watched her watch in wonder as a large ant crawled from her hand to her shoulder. She picks up bugs off the ground to look at them. I think it's great. I'd much rather she think insects are fascinating than think that anything that small is somehow scary. The danger to this is that she'll not be properly respectful of hornets. The only time it has bothered me is when she was holding a dead fly in her hand. Otherwise I get a big kick out of her interest in bugs.
A friend of ours has freaked in the presence of insects. Her daughter has learned that insects are frightening.
I don't want Brenna striding confidently into the street, and I don't want her riding in the car without a seat belt--ever. On the other hand, I'd feel proud to have raised a girl who's not afraid of anything, who is not constrained by fear. So, the question is how to teach about danger without teaching fear. "Cars are nothing to be afraid of, as long as you behave properly..."
Inevitably she'll get hurt, and some of that pristine ignorant bravery will be gone. I'll still love her.
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