Archives Index << The Oh-so-innocent child
When Melissa was about 2 years old and went down for her
daily nap the walls, her legs and my conscience took a major beating.
About 15 minutes after putting her to bed I walked back into the room
to check on her and her brother to find her sitting on her little bed
"shaving" her legs! As it turned out, in the closet was a small
gym bag with toiletries and cosmetics from our recent trip and little
Missy had discovered and unpacked it. Eyeliner made a fine alternative
for crayons (for wall paintings) and those razors made interesting marks
on her legs as well! So here I was, torn between anger and guilt (for
a responsible parent should never make such things available to kids.)
How did I handle it? I got suckered in for pretty much the rest of the
afternoon handing out cookies and milk on demand. Well, at least the child
wasn't seriously injured. That is, until her father got home. The minute
he walked through the door that little wench started to limp in the most
pitiful way! (Which got her a great deal of sympathy, of course.) *Sigh*
This is when I learned that my "oh so innocent" child wasn't
quite as innocent as I had chosen to believe.
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