Thursday 5 March 2009

The 'Risk Avoidance' gene

I'm wondering how my children have managed not to inherit the 'risk avoidance' genes of their two cowardly - I mean sensible - parents.

I've never had a child, at least not one of my own, try to electrocute themself in my house. I have had a visiting child give it a good try, and I've had another visiting child feed an entire tub of fishfood to an overwhelmed goldfish, (other people's children are always more of an unknown quantity), but mostly my own kids are sensible. Yesterday, however, I found dd trying to stick a hairpin into on of the sockets on an extension lead. And yes it was plugged in! There she was happily poking the hairpin in, as if she were poking a plastic straw into a keyhole (a not-uncommon preoccupation in the under-6s). Thankfully no harm done (and we do have a cut-out system in our house), but it did make me realise, frustratingly, that just when you think you know your own kids they go and do something totally unexpected! What is it that makes that happen???

And ds2 also seems to have sidetracked the risk-avoidance genes too. On the journey back from ice-skating today he told me that he wants to do sky-diving. 'Because I'm alright at heights as long as I'm the one in control'. I gently broke it to him that you probably have to be 18 to do things like that, and promised myself that I would lock him in a high tower to spin gold from straw once he was 17...

...only hoping that he hasn't grown his long golden locks back by then {g}







'Hi Mum, been doing a bit of networking at university...love ds2'

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