Higher Standards
When you have bio children, if one falls and hurts themselves, you kiss their boo boo and go on with your day.
In foster care, we have so many regulations and people watching us. There are so many things we have to document, we have to share, we have to watch.
Even before 8 am today, first blood was drawn. Mr. T slipped and fell face first. Busting his lip from the inside. Mouth full of blood and lots of tears. This has become a very frequent occurrence with Mr. T as he is learning to walk and run and just be a boy.
Normal parents wouldn't have a huge amount of anxiety around this type of accident. But with foster parents, there is documentation, fear of investigation, and even as far as fear of having kids removed.
Mr. T was removed from a foster home due to excessive critical incidents before being placed with me and so I have more anxiety than normal due to this. I probably watch him much closer than I do Little Man. And I watch Little Man like a hawk.
I have yet to find a balance between letting the boys be boys and not physically wrapping them up in bubble wrap and never letting them leave the house. I hate when the kids hurt and I will do just about anything to keep them from hurting. I don't want to stunt their growth (physically or mentally) but I also don't want to have to invest in a stockpile of band-aids.
And just to add to that, today I noticed that Little Man has a tooth coming in. Under an existing tooth. That is not loose. He is 7 and hasn't lost any teeth yet. I am not sure how he's going to handle this whole losing teeth thing. He kind of understands the tooth fairy story so I'm hoping that will entice him to be on board with losing teeth and not freak out that things are falling out of his mouth.
In foster care, we have so many regulations and people watching us. There are so many things we have to document, we have to share, we have to watch.
Even before 8 am today, first blood was drawn. Mr. T slipped and fell face first. Busting his lip from the inside. Mouth full of blood and lots of tears. This has become a very frequent occurrence with Mr. T as he is learning to walk and run and just be a boy.
Normal parents wouldn't have a huge amount of anxiety around this type of accident. But with foster parents, there is documentation, fear of investigation, and even as far as fear of having kids removed.
Mr. T was removed from a foster home due to excessive critical incidents before being placed with me and so I have more anxiety than normal due to this. I probably watch him much closer than I do Little Man. And I watch Little Man like a hawk.
I have yet to find a balance between letting the boys be boys and not physically wrapping them up in bubble wrap and never letting them leave the house. I hate when the kids hurt and I will do just about anything to keep them from hurting. I don't want to stunt their growth (physically or mentally) but I also don't want to have to invest in a stockpile of band-aids.
And just to add to that, today I noticed that Little Man has a tooth coming in. Under an existing tooth. That is not loose. He is 7 and hasn't lost any teeth yet. I am not sure how he's going to handle this whole losing teeth thing. He kind of understands the tooth fairy story so I'm hoping that will entice him to be on board with losing teeth and not freak out that things are falling out of his mouth.
I am actually ok with blood and gore. I live on horror movies when the boys are in bed. I've been complimented on being the calmest person in a crisis by multiple people. But the idea of blood and gore and my boys....I'm going to have to toughen up because I lose my ever loving mind when one of them gets hurt. And I see a lot of blood and tears in my future with these two.
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