What’s so bad about the garage?
Posted on July 14, 2010 - Filed Under Uncategorized
Our street is (or was, as of today seeing as how we moved out today in preparation for the big move) a cul-de-sac and we have the good fortune of living on the very end. In an effort to inspire confidence and competence, I started allowing Maggie to ride her scooter all the way around the cul-de-sac by herself if I or her mama were outside. That way, if she fell down, etc. we could hear her calling for us. Well, one day last week, she was on one of her little rides and got caught up at one of the neighbor’s houses. When she didn’t return in the normal amount of time, I went looking for her. I should pause here to say that, in our house it is a rule that children (ours or not) do not go into the garage by themselves; there are simply too many dangerous and alluring things to play with. Well, I found her—playing in the garage with those kids with no adult present. Needless to say, she was made to come immediately and was punished.
As I was continuing my yardwork after the incident, I started thinking about the ‘why’ of our rule and how to get through to Maggie about the good reason behind it. Then it dawned on me: I go to work everyday and bust my ass so that we can have money to give Maggie all the opportunities we possibly can and I don’t want to see that go up in smoke because she becomes handicapped or something else as a result of a freak weedeater incident. If she is going to incur some kind of physical limitation, I want it to be because of something uncontrollable, e.g. some kind of disease, or because she was doing something really cool and that she really liked, e.g. gymnastics or swimming. I don’t want it to be because of something like not being able to resist the temptation of a garage, of all things. Her mother and I work way too hard for her to jack up her life because she’s curious about a table saw.
I imagine some people who read this might see this as being very business minded—so be it. First of all, it is our blog; we pay the bills, we can say what we want. Secondly, there’s something to be said for every parent feeling as though they invest themselves in their kids and they want the best return they can get.
The other aspect of this that was especially striking to me was that I can still remember when I was a kid and I had one of my many ‘garage moments’. I was an absolute horrible teenager, needy for attention and acceptance from friends, family, etc. Therefore, I did a lot of things one should not do: drinking, drugs (less than I wanted to at the time, thank goodness), and general hell-raising (or at least weak attempts at such). I don’t think my parents knew what to do. I know they felt desperate. And now I know they felt great pain as they watched me piddle away my life’s potential, all because I really wanted what was in that proverbial garage. I remember the desperation on their faces, the sadness in their eyes. I didn’t understand it and pushed back pretty hard. I can’t be too hard on myself because it was my inexperience that made me so stupid and foolish, but I can say that life has now shown me I should have listened when told the garage was dangerous.
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