Dumb Stuff and Common Sense

The beauty and amazement of the kaleidoscope has wowed children for generations. After Sunday's episode, we'll think twice about this little, seemingly innocent, plastic kaleidoscope.

Kids just do dumb things. The sooner you learn that and accept the expected, you won't get nearly as frustrated and annoyed by those ridiculous events that take place on a regular basis.

The latest dumb thing began with my son bringing home a little plastic kaleidoscope from a birthday party on Saturday. 

The culprit...see the hole in the green one?

Sunday morning (yes, of course, Sunday) my daughter put her finger into the hole and managed to get it seriously stuck. No amount of soap or lotion or twisting would get it off. The plastic was moldable so it dug into her finger. She was really in pain. Dad came to the rescue which unveiled this:

The view from one side of the finger

Wow!  We've had our fair share of dumb stuff, that's for sure...

1. Jumping from the top of the bunk bed, hitting the ceiling light fixture, landing on another bed, with shattered glass all over. Not a scratch or a cut resulted from this super-hero stunt.

2. Attaching hand cuffs just above the knee and securing the other side of the cuff to the kitchen drawer. This was the day when there was only a key to open it, no release mechanism. Pulling that off was not fun!

3. Standing in a bucket of blocks and wetting the pants. I had to wash every single one of those plastic blocks! (No dishwasher in that house)

4. Riding the bike down the street, not looking forward; running into the neighbor's truck and smashing the face. Nothing broken!

5. Child takes a steak knife from the knife block. Another child tries to get it away. Children are running up the stairs. Child with knife stabs chasing child due to the swing of the knife while running. Stab resulted in small lesion; no stitches.

6. Sitting in front of a glass curio, the child tips back the little chair and smashes into the curio, cutting the back of the head...blood everywhere. Boy, those head wounds really bleed. Again, no stitches.

7. Toilet is left up, unflushed. Toddler toddles into the bathroom, grabs the "stuff" from the toilet and starts eating it. We'll not discuss any more about this one.

8. Child ties a parachute cord to the waist, ties the other end to the top of the bunk bed and jumps. Gets stuck in mid-air, screaming for help to "scissor it" (cut it). 

9. Leaving the top of the glue open, it spills and makes a glue puddle on the carpet, 3" x 3". Glue and carpet do not mix. Tip to clean up: Scrape it up with a spoon, over and over. Do not use water!!

10. Throwing rocks in the back yard results in the kitchen window breaking. "I didn't do it...my friend did." Uh, huh. 

11. The googly eye in the ear is classic.

12. Lettuce up the nose. It took us two weeks to discover what the source of that disgusting smell was. It wasn't bad breath!

13. Bead up the nose. Good thing for the nose sucker (bulb syringe). 

14. Oh, no. You didn't listen and stay by Mom; fell in a hole and cut the eyebrow.

15. Jumping off the side of the bathtub like Superman, hitting the cheek bone on the tub. STITCHES!

16. Microwaving clay and dropping it on the floor. Clay everywhere!

I'm sure if I dig into those deep recesses of the brain where I store such memories, I could come up with many more. The bright side of doing the dumb stuff? Hopefully, our children learn a lesson. Oh, let's hope common sense sinks in and the dumb stuff decreases!

More to Come...but until then, Stick-to-it!