I often wonder if I am alone in thinking of this. When we have babies, we are bombarded with SIDS: don't lay the baby on their back, SIDS. Don't co-sleep, SIDS. Don't put stuffed animals and blankets in the crib, SIDS! Then, before we know it, we are helping our babies blow out their candle on their 1 year birthday cake with a sigh of relief, we made it a year and the baby didn't die. We're in the CLEAR! Now we can relax when dreaming about school, college, girlfriends, marriage, grandbabies, and the future. Then you're watching the news, and a child the same age as yours has died in some accident.
Suddenly, it hits you: you're not in the clear. SIDS seems like a simple foe now. Because now there's cars, bike accidents, creepy strangers, diseases, and a whole slew of other dangerous scenarios out to get your child. Yet it's this age when they crave their independence, and you start letting them out of your sight, you can't go to school with them, after all. As cute as they can be, you really don't want to be outside when they play with their friends, except to check on them.
Oh, and SIDS? The risk doesn't go away magically go away with those blown out candles, with the 1 year milestone. There's something called Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood, or SUDC. So add that to the list of things that are out to get your new independent toddler/young child.
I can't be scared all of the time though. I can't keep him inside, while his friends are playing and having fun. I can instill in him a healthy fear of cars, and hope he listens. I've watched him stay on our side of the street when his friends all were on the other side, because I had told him he couldn't cross the street yet. (He didn't know I was watching) He knows he can go over there, if he lets me know first. But that still doesn't stop my heart from racing every time I hear a car coming down the street. I just choose not to dwell on what could happen, but we're not reckless either.
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