The world looks very different through my eyes as a parent than it did when I didn’t have another little life to care for. I was walking around our back yard last week and and was struck by fear at the sight of little mushrooms everywhere. My girl loves putting everything in her mouth at this point of her life. I thought about trying to protect her from the danger of what is in all likelihood many dangerous objects in our yard. I did some research and found that it is virtually impossible to remove the fungi and that I just have to follow my girl even more closely when she is outdoors. I also learned that some mushrooms that are considered safe for me could be poisonous to young children. Hmm, never realized that.
Just the other day, we were visiting my in-laws and enjoying some cherries off the tree. My 4 year old nephew was being scolded to stay away from the little berry bush and its unsafe fruit. One of the other little boys spouting his knowledge of the subject to my brother-in-law, “The birds can eat the berries and they are fine . . .” This reminded me of my childhood: I was outside of our church and my mom was inside. We had raspberry bushes at my house, so when I saw a tree with little red berries, I decided to have a few. I was sick to my stomach for the rest of the day. And I think that I was old enough that I should have known better.
I guess that inside of the house is the only safe place . . . not quite. My husband had guests over the other day. They all removed their shoes before entering, yet I found 2 tiny shards of glass on the rug in the family room and one in the kitchen. It is nerve-wracking. I sometimes feel like a crazy mom, trying to protect my baby from all the dangers of the world, but I guess that to some degree being a mom requires a little bit of craziness.
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