I Don't Have Anything Dangerous

@Rollo1 (16676)
Boston, Massachusetts
November 1, 2015 5:32am CST
A post by @PainsOnSlate reminds me that kids do the darnedest things, just as Art Linkletter told us they would. The Girl was a very cautious child, and she would never touch anything she thought might harm her, The Boy was the complete opposite and was always looking for ways to destroy himself. But he was a good boy, and so he always felt the need to check with me. He'd try to get me to comment on his actions, so he could gauge how dangerous they were. For instance, he might come to me with his hands behind his back and say: "I don't have anything in my hands". "What don't you have in your hands?" I would ask. "I don't have a knife", he might reply. And of course, he did have a regular table knife, but still a knife. If he told me he didn't have something, it meant that he did have it and I needed to pounce on the situation. Sometimes, he didn't have a screwdriver and other times he didn't have a manged fingernail from putting his finger into the fan after I had warned him not to. And yet, he was a good kid. Some little part of his conscience plagued him until he confessed all while denying it, so that I had an opportunity to object or approve. Of course, The Girl was an angel who never did anything dangerous. At least, I never saw her do it. She has since confessed to me the many dangerous things that she and her friends did that I never knew about. Somehow, the fact that it was over and done in the past and she was standing in front of me alive, telling me about them, did nothing to prevent some backlash trauma. I must admit that I preferred The Boy's method of confessing before committing the deed. Did your kids do dangerous things and did they tell you about them before of after they did them?
29 people like this
26 responses
@boiboing (13147)
• Northampton, England
1 Nov 15
Thankfully I'm spared such worries because I don't have kids.
3 people like this
@Rollo1 (16676)
• Boston, Massachusetts
1 Nov 15
You'll live longer.
@boiboing (13147)
• Northampton, England
1 Nov 15
@Rollo1 Yes, I may well. And go grey later
@LadyDuck (502653)
• Italy
1 Nov 15
I was very cautious and feared everything. My mother gave me a lot of responsibility to watch my younger brother and I wanted to protect him. He was like your boy, exactly the same, but he was a nice boy.
2 people like this
@Rollo1 (16676)
• Boston, Massachusetts
1 Nov 15
My boy is a nice boy, too. But oh my goodness, it was hard work getting him through his early childhood.
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (502653)
• Italy
2 Nov 15
@Rollo1 My younger brother has broken so many things when he was a toddler. He grabbed dishes and glasses and as soon as he heard someone coming he dropped everything on the floor. He was a funny little boy.
@jstory07 (148764)
• Roseburg, Oregon
1 Nov 15
My oldest son tripped over his own feet all the time and was always and still gets hurt all the time. Accicent prome.
2 people like this
@Rollo1 (16676)
• Boston, Massachusetts
1 Nov 15
Yeah, The Boy seemed to hurl himself headlong into everything he could find to hit his head on. Some are just like that.
@simone10 (54180)
• Louisville, Kentucky
1 Nov 15
Neither of my kids told me anything they did. My daughter was very sneaky and thought she was getting away with a lot but she wasn't very smart about it and I always caught on. I thought my son was the perfect one but found out much like you did, later when he was grown.
1 person likes this
@Rollo1 (16676)
• Boston, Massachusetts
1 Nov 15
The sneaky ones are lucky that they didn't manage to get hurt doing their sneaky things, but even later on, when they're grown, it's still hard to hear about these sneaky things they did.
1 person likes this
@simone10 (54180)
• Louisville, Kentucky
7 Nov 15
@Rollo1 Yes, it is hard to hear. They are grown now but it makes you want to go off on them like when they were underage.
@amnabas (14877)
• Karachi, Pakistan
1 Nov 15
No exactly not my daughters dont do anything dangerous they are too obedient.
2 people like this
@Rollo1 (16676)
• Boston, Massachusetts
1 Nov 15
That is good for you. And good for them, too.
@Jessicalynnt (50523)
• Centralia, Missouri
1 Nov 15
no kids, so no idea, however this made me giggle! I remember I was the one who never did things, and until I got older I mostly didn't, Mom had eyes in the back of her head and I didnt want to lose reading privileges.
1 person likes this
@Rollo1 (16676)
• Boston, Massachusetts
1 Nov 15
I think I was mostly good, but there were things my mother would have not approved of, things that might have been dangerous but turned out okay.
1 person likes this
• Centralia, Missouri
1 Nov 15
@Rollo1 I prob had a few of those as well, lol
@marguicha (230350)
• Chile
1 Nov 15
I have been told about many of the things my daughters did, now that they have their own children, when we sit together for a cup of coffee. I´m glad that they went through the perils of childhood with no scars.
1 person likes this
@Rollo1 (16676)
• Boston, Massachusetts
1 Nov 15
Now they have their own children, they will see how scary it is, lol.
@BelleStarr (61463)
• United States
1 Nov 15
I would say my oldest son and my daughter were the ones who were intrepid, my younger son is very cautious.
1 person likes this
@Rollo1 (16676)
• Boston, Massachusetts
1 Nov 15
Funny how kids are so different, it's not like you can learn that much from child to child because they will all behave differently.
1 person likes this
@sofssu (23660)
1 Nov 15
Thankfully my boys are for the most part obedient.. They have had their share of getting into minor trouble in school for talking, not doing their work and stuff.. but not dangerous things.
1 person likes this
@Rollo1 (16676)
• Boston, Massachusetts
1 Nov 15
I don't suppose anyone gets through life without a little trouble here and there. And mothers survive those years, too. But it takes a lot out of you.
• United States
1 Nov 15
I never had kids, if I did that would have been dangerous enough for me
1 person likes this
@Rollo1 (16676)
• Boston, Massachusetts
1 Nov 15
It's a scary thing, that's for sure.
1 person likes this
@fawkes62 (1276)
• United States
1 Nov 15
My kids never did anything really dangerous, that I know about, but the boy likes to push the limits on some things. His favorite thing to do is jump off the steps from 4 or 5 up. I keep telling him not to but he continues to do it. Thankfully he has not fallen and hurt himself.
1 person likes this
@Rollo1 (16676)
• Boston, Massachusetts
1 Nov 15
I try not to look. I have found that if I don't look, they won't do things like that to scare me. I think they do a lot of it on purpose just to see me lose my tiny little mind.
1 person likes this
@Fleura (35069)
• United Kingdom
1 Nov 15
As far as I know they didn't/ don't do anything particularly dangerous or perhaps I just don't know about it, or perhaps I have a different idea of danger. Carrying a table knife or a screwdriver sounds quite normal to me!
1 person likes this
@Rollo1 (16676)
• Boston, Massachusetts
1 Nov 15
He was the sort of kid who'd stick a knife or a screwdriver into an electrical outlet or something. He did manage to cut his hand quite badly when he was older and found something out in someone's yard. He's more cautious now, but he was determined to find something to hurt himself with back then.
2 people like this
@just4him (323168)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
1 Nov 15
Usually after. I think they knew the trouble they would be in if they told me first.
1 person likes this
@cpefley (1941)
• San Jose, California
1 Nov 15
That is so funny. My oldest were the opposite. My oldest son was cautious and my oldest daughter had no fear. In the course of 6 months, when she was 3, she burned her fingers on a light bulb she tried to replace, her butt on a table lamp she sat on, and her foot when she stepped through her rice paper lamp. After that, I had a rule of no table lamps in the house until she was much older lol.
1 person likes this
@Rollo1 (16676)
• Boston, Massachusetts
1 Nov 15
Sometimes you have to do that. I got rid of the coffee table entirely to avoid my daughter bumping her head on it when she was learning to walk. I put it back when she turned two and the very first thing she did was to fall off the couch onto the table and bump her head. Sometimes, even being cautious can't prevent everything.
@GardenGerty (169530)
• United States
2 Nov 15
Oh man, I am too old to remember. I know that my son nearly hanged himself on a curtain when he was five. He stood on a doll buggy and tried to swing on a curtain that was swagging my daughter's room. He had a mark on his neck but I did not solve it until I saw the damaged doll buggy. My kids both were total monkeys about climbing. Oh, yeah, I think he did some other dangerous things.
@cherigucchi (15932)
• Philippines
2 Nov 15
I always monitor my kids but good thing that they are good kids
@PatZAnthony (14749)
• Charlotte, North Carolina
2 Nov 15
Kids really do say and do strange and dangerous things at times.
@jaboUK (64346)
• United Kingdom
2 Nov 15
Once he was grown, my son confessed to lots of things I didn't know about, including regularly playing truant. My daughter had a similar method to your son, though it wasn't dangerous, in that she'd say -'I don't want a biscuit', which meant that she did.
@rakski (156552)
• Philippines
3 Nov 15
my son is almost the same as yours but the difference is when he have something on his hands, he shows me and tell me,mom look at this.... and so I will calmly ask to him so he will not go in panic also do you want to cut your fingers (scissors in hand) and he will say no so he will give the scissors to me. As for my girl, well, she does not confess anything yet and I think she did not do anything yet too... hopefully.
• United States
1 Nov 15
Yes, she put herself in serious danger, still does and she is almost forty.