I try to give ds as much freedom as possible. I definitely have boundaries, mostly for the sake of safety and respecting others. But as much as possible I am trying to let my 23 month old explore the world and learn about himself through his own trial and error. I do feel though that it is my job as a mom to help him learn from those experiences. I have also been doing a baby care swap with a mom who does the continuum concept thing. She doesn't have any child-proofing done to her house, no gates on the stairs. I do have childproofing, but I respect what she's trying to do, and have even been more lax about what ds is allowed to do. For instance, I let him climb the stairs by himself now, and he can definitely handle it. I also let him stand on our dining room chairs by himself, and I really feel confident that he won't fall (well, there's always the chance he'll slip, but I feel that that's true in other, sometimes more dangerous situations).
But today, I had a playgroup with main stream moms, and perhaps I got a little carried away, but I let ds do both those things, and at least two of the moms had a heart attack. One mom told me I should never let ds do that in other people's homes for fear of liability (okay, now who thinks like that?). I thought about it and totally realized that most moms aren't used to this, and I should definitely reign ds in when we're at other people's homes. He can learn that there are different behaviors for different contexts.
But my question is this: Does anyone know any stats on how many kids fall down stairs, burn themselves, drink draino, etc. if left to do so? And how much of this is prevented by gates, latches, and such? What did parents do before these safety inventions? When ds was younger and crawling, I would definitely be more concerned about him falling down stairs and such. But how long does a mom go on fearing that happening? I think my ds is perfectly capable of handling situations that other moms seem to panic over.
Look forward to your responses.
But today, I had a playgroup with main stream moms, and perhaps I got a little carried away, but I let ds do both those things, and at least two of the moms had a heart attack. One mom told me I should never let ds do that in other people's homes for fear of liability (okay, now who thinks like that?). I thought about it and totally realized that most moms aren't used to this, and I should definitely reign ds in when we're at other people's homes. He can learn that there are different behaviors for different contexts.
But my question is this: Does anyone know any stats on how many kids fall down stairs, burn themselves, drink draino, etc. if left to do so? And how much of this is prevented by gates, latches, and such? What did parents do before these safety inventions? When ds was younger and crawling, I would definitely be more concerned about him falling down stairs and such. But how long does a mom go on fearing that happening? I think my ds is perfectly capable of handling situations that other moms seem to panic over.
Look forward to your responses.