Parenting

Last week Wednesday, my daughter (7) went to visit one of her friends for the afternoon.
Her friend has a the smallest model quad on the market and they spent the afternoon riding.
At some or other stage, my daughter decided to make the acquaintance of a tree.
She hurt her right arm in the process.

Having done several First Aid Courses, my first assessment of the arm was done visually.
The outcome? No swelling, no reddening or blueish tint. No protruding bones, well not even a scratch.
I then asked her to move her wrist and wiggle her fingers. All of which she could do with only a small acknowledgement of pain. I deducted that she'd sprained the wrist.

I had her wear a sling to school the next day, and saw that she had trouble holding any weight
in her hand.

On the friday we drove down to Queenstown to visit my parents and to take my daughter
to my parents-in-law for the school holiday.
On saturday morning I visited an old school friend of mine and asked her what she thought about the arm. The fact that my daughter still didn't use the arm began to worry me.

Her first reaction was that the doctor's consulting rooms were open and that we should pop in, just to make sure. Off we went to the doctor.

Have you ever heard of a "greenstick fracture"??

Me neither. Well I suppose we all have to learn these things. The doctor was kind enough to explain the concept of a "greenstick fracture" - very interesting. Tough these kids!

The fact that I had made my daughter walk around with a broken arm for three days??
I'm still red in the face. What kind of mother am I??
Reaction to the above went into two clear categories:

Category A: Reaction were mostly vicious stares that had the following subscript:

"Mothers like you should be banned from parenting for life!!!!"

Category B: Don't blame yourself because:

- "these things happen" - (I loved the reassuring smiles after the statement)
- "I'm scared to take my son to Medi-Clinic's Emergency Room AGAIN.
(I suspect that's because of the standard "Category A" response...)
- "My daughter broke her collerbone and we only realised it after two weeks."
(This one made me feel MUCH better...:-))
- Our daughters are such drama queens, it's difficult to know when they're serious..

My daughters reaction?

"Look at my plaster of Paris! You can write on it if you want, but I'll tell you what to write!"