海角大神

听Dear Free-Range Kids: My two-year old daughter face-planted while running on a sidewalk yesterday late afternoon. Now she鈥檚 got a scrape on her forehead and a 鈥淕roucho Marx鈥�-looking mustache/skinned upper lip. We checked that her teeth and nose were fine, and she stopped crying before we got home.

But, I cannot tell you how many听moms (of all people!?) have stopped me to ask if I took her to the emergency room. When I say no, they look at me like I鈥檓 crazy.

Look: She fell while running. It鈥檚 no worse than having a skinned knee, just in a bit more obvious place. We put ice and Neosporin on it, and she was back to herself by dinner time. Since when do we rush off to the ER for every scrape, bruise, and cut? It鈥檚 no wonder that medical insurance is skyrocketing if we rush off frantically to the hospital every time a child falls down.听And, why react with a gasp and 鈥淥h my gosh!鈥� to seeing a child with a scrape and a scab on her face? It鈥檚 teaching her that something terrible happened to her, when it was really听just听a fall.

Seems to me we are instilling a culture of fear by reacting with such grandiosity to such a normal accident.听Beyond that, I can鈥檛 tell you how many moms have told me that 鈥渂ecause she鈥檚 a girl, you really should put [insert numerous product names] on it to minimize the scarring.鈥� I just don鈥檛 think that I am (literally) scarring my child by keeping my reaction to a sane minimum. 鈥� Jen.

Dear Jen: I鈥檝e wondered myself why I鈥檓 at the pediatrician鈥檚 office so much more than my mom was with me.

I think it鈥檚 all part of 听鈥漺orst-first鈥� thinking. We are encouraged to consider how every incident or sniffle COULD turn into the worst possible thing, and how terrible would we feel if we hadn鈥檛 addressed it with all guns blazing. 听鈥漌ait and see鈥� has become 鈥淲ait and see how you feel when your child doesn鈥檛 recover and it鈥檚 all your fault!鈥�

No wonder it鈥檚 so hard to resist the impulse to 听make a big fuss, or at the very least, spend a lot of time and money. 鈥� L.

海角大神 has assembled a diverse group of the best family and parenting bloggers out there. Our contributing and guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor, and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs.听Lenore Skenazy听blogs at听