faithsstuff, I think it's neat that you're allowing your child more space. We have some friends who have a very free-range approach, and I've noticed that their toddlers became very adept at maneuvering stairs and keeping themselves safe at an early age, whereas my own were accident-prone much longer.
I did read The Continuum Concept when my youngest was around 16 months old and belatedly tried to start applying the concepts. Then, when she was 17 months old we were walking on our back deck, and I was a few feet away when she suddenly leaned over and tumbled off a two-foot-high ledge onto the grass below.
She kept crying and holding her elbow and seemed to be in a lot of pain, so we took her to the ER and found out she'd fractured it! At that point I just accepted that I was too late in applying the idea that if I didn't hover, my babies would actually be safer because they'd use their own instincts and protect themselves.
TCC makes a lot of sense, and I think it works when parents are actually able to do it. I did good with the skin-to-skin but lousy with the whole "let them learn to protect themselves"-thing.
My friends who are very free-range are also non-blamers like you are. They don't freak over the various little bumps and bruises of childhood. It's a little harder if someone is free-range but also freaks out and blames others if her children or younger siblings get hurt.
4evermom -- it's great to see you again!
Yes, I've sometimes encountered older kids, and even adults, who seem to think they have authority over anyone younger than them. We had a situation last week with an elderly gentleman who was frustrating my dd by continuing to tell her that something she was doing was unsafe and she needed to stop.
Dd wanted me to go over and talk to him, and maybe I should have but I felt like we were just becoming friends with this elderly man and his wife and I didn't want to hurt his feelings, so I was encouraging her to just speak up (if he got on her again) and tell him, "My mom said it's okay for me to do this." But then the couple and their grandkids left so we didn't have to deal with it.
About the swinging-with-eyes-closed issue, I've determined that it must be a pretty low-risk activity, 'cause dd's been having a ball on the swings for the past three years or so, and this is the first time anyone's had an issue with it.
And it sounds like the main risk of someone walking in front of her swing is when she's just starting up, not after she's got a good rythm going, so any impact that occurred would be very low and probably serve as a helpful wakeup call for the other child.
I did read The Continuum Concept when my youngest was around 16 months old and belatedly tried to start applying the concepts. Then, when she was 17 months old we were walking on our back deck, and I was a few feet away when she suddenly leaned over and tumbled off a two-foot-high ledge onto the grass below.
She kept crying and holding her elbow and seemed to be in a lot of pain, so we took her to the ER and found out she'd fractured it! At that point I just accepted that I was too late in applying the idea that if I didn't hover, my babies would actually be safer because they'd use their own instincts and protect themselves.
TCC makes a lot of sense, and I think it works when parents are actually able to do it. I did good with the skin-to-skin but lousy with the whole "let them learn to protect themselves"-thing.
My friends who are very free-range are also non-blamers like you are. They don't freak over the various little bumps and bruises of childhood. It's a little harder if someone is free-range but also freaks out and blames others if her children or younger siblings get hurt.
4evermom -- it's great to see you again!
Yes, I've sometimes encountered older kids, and even adults, who seem to think they have authority over anyone younger than them. We had a situation last week with an elderly gentleman who was frustrating my dd by continuing to tell her that something she was doing was unsafe and she needed to stop.Dd wanted me to go over and talk to him, and maybe I should have but I felt like we were just becoming friends with this elderly man and his wife and I didn't want to hurt his feelings, so I was encouraging her to just speak up (if he got on her again) and tell him, "My mom said it's okay for me to do this." But then the couple and their grandkids left so we didn't have to deal with it.
About the swinging-with-eyes-closed issue, I've determined that it must be a pretty low-risk activity, 'cause dd's been having a ball on the swings for the past three years or so, and this is the first time anyone's had an issue with it.
And it sounds like the main risk of someone walking in front of her swing is when she's just starting up, not after she's got a good rythm going, so any impact that occurred would be very low and probably serve as a helpful wakeup call for the other child.
It's not something that I think 'has to be done', but I think its helpful.
