There was also a scene where the baby crawled into a cow pasture and you held your breath to see if the cows were going to trample him and wondered where his mother was. There were other scenes but most of them involved Mongolian Baby barely escaping certain death. That's my baby now and I am that mom.
I know the statistics for atv injuries but no one told them to my 21 month old who screams, "ride ride ride," every time she passes the four wheeler now. I had a long list of nevers based on danger. My child would not ride on an ATV ever, she would not play on a trampoline outside of an approved gym under supervision, she would not ride horses, I would not leave her with anyone nor let her play with older kids unsupervised, and there were certainly more.
At the same time, I read Free Range Kids when I was pregnant and I wanted one of those kids. I wanted her to play in the dirt and to run around the neighborhood from sun up to sunset. I wanted her to ride the tractor with grandpa and to swim in suspect creeks with dad. I had those things and Free Range Kids showed me the statistics that the world really isn't all that different than the world I grew up in. I was damaged during childhood but not by doing those things, not by living and running and being a kid. My plan was to empower my daughter and victim proof her somehow, so that she could grow up knowing she was strong and vibrant and yet allow her to be relatively safe.
I got lost somewhere in that plan clearly. Not that I believe children need to ride four wheelers or walk through cow pastures by themselves in order to grow up strong. When my daughter walks up to a pig ten times her size (how much does that guy weigh anyway) or tries to bring a goat down by herself or looks up in awe as a cow walks right past her, I can see the confidence. She didn't have that before, she went from home to carseat to supervised activity, and back all the while hanging on my leg or strapped to me. She was like a little potted plant.
I practice attachment parenting, I wore my baby everywhere, she slept with me until a few weeks ago, she never left my side for more than a few minutes. The thinking was that if she had a secure attachment to her mother she would become even more independent because she knew I would always be there to catch her. She has slowly become more independent and had just started playing by herself and venturing off without me. Side note, the zoo is a different story, Lucy thinks she owns that place and is frequently off doing her own thing, much to the dismay of well meaning strangers. I wanted her to be confident and to separate from me, I just thought that would come by playing in her room while I washed dishes, not by chasing billy goats.
I know there will be injuries, she is daring and clumsy. She is gaining so much confidence by having the freedoms she has been given here though, that I will risk a few broken bones to let her grow and become the self confident, strong woman she was born to be. Not to mention, her only real injury to date came from rolling off a couch.
Back to that four wheeler though. I really didn't intend to let her ride it for a long time but things have to get done and people don't just ride horses around a farm anymore. I don't know if they ever did outside of tv, but they surely don't now. They ride four wheelers to find stray cows and bring them in, to haul feed to chickens, and to bring the calves their bottles, mostly they ride them up and down the hill from the house to the barn a lot. But if Lucy is going to grow up on a farm she is going to have to ride a four wheeler like everybody else and oh my goodness is it a fun way to work.
Sorry this was disjointed, I have to stop waiting to write until after I get my night owl down for the night. Here are some shots showing how everyone loves the four wheeler and a gratuitous baby wearing on the farm pic. Thank you Kimberly Watt for the use of your Boba.
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