Monday, February 09, 2009

Fear and Screaming in Parenting

A few days ago, my daughter got hurt.

A few days ago, my daughter got hurt and she screamed.

A few days ago, my daughter got hurt and she screamed IMMEDIATELY after I had just gone to the bathroom.

Never freaking fails!

Although, I have to tell you, that is one of the most sickening thing that can happen to you as a parent. You know a child is hurt, but you can't help. You can't do anything about it. You can't comfort them. You can't even get to them.

I flew out of the bathroom as fast as I could and found her right outside the door crying like crazy. She's the child we joke is built like a truck (she doesn't seem to feel pain as much as other kids), but she was screaming. I feared gushing blood, but luckily, didn't find that. She was bleeding and she had quite an injury, but we got through it (thanks to Bumps and Bruises tablets--these things are WONDERFUL, pain reliever, and a bucket of ice water for her to keep her hand in) and lots of hugs and kisses from her sister.

I was very impressed with Girl2. She was so motherly. She hugged her sister and whispered to her comfortingly. When Girl1 asked for her stuffed toy, Girl2 jumped up to go get it. When she couldn't find it, she brought back her own lovey and another favorite toy. Girl1 played gofer bringing toilet paper to Girl2 when she needed to blow her nose, running dirty tissues to the garbage and then repeating when asked (I eventually had her bring the bathroom garbage and a roll of toilet paper out with us to save the poor child from utter exhaustion).

All seems okay now, but those moments (and those screams) are absolutely horrifying and haunting.

1 comment:

Iluska Ikeda said...

That sounds so hard! My daughter is only 4 months so she's not mobile yet. But I already had the 'I'm in the bathroom when she all of a sudden cries histerically' moments. If I put her down to nap in the bassinet while I go to the bahroom, sometimes she wakes up screaming and there's nothing I can do until I get out (which I do as quickly as possible). I can't imagine how awful it must be knowing that she's actually hurt.