Never, ever assume!

Four kids in the Four Corners of the USA!

When it comes to kids, never EVER assume they know something! Be willing to teach them over and over and OVER again.

I have rediscovered this principle this week. A few days ago I was horrified to find out that Angel has NO clue how dangerous and sharp knives are. She's almost 3 years old and I thought she would have picked this up by now from all my other lectures to the children.

wrong. wrong. WRONG!

I was doing the dishes, and Angel was right next to me. There were some knives on a cutting board next to me. She has never shown even the slightest inclination to pick a knife up before. But this time she picked up a big steak knife saying, " Mommy look!" And then stabbed it on her forehead right above her eyeball. I nearly screamed. But I collected myself, collected all the knives WAY out of her reach. I began my very very dangerous lecture that I thought she knew. Thank goodness the knife didn't break skin. You could say she's only two years old (almost 3) and just doesn't know better....but she's always shown so much good common sense above her age level, that maybe I was over estimating her abilities by leaving those knives within reach. At least I was right there next to her!

ANOTHER ILLUSTRATION:

A few days before Christmas I saw Duckie laying next to the Christmas tree. She was staring at the outlet by which the Christmas tree was plugged in. I stepped closer to see what she was doing, I nearly fainted in panic! She was repeatedly sticking some tiny thin plastic toy in and out of the holes in the outlet!!!! I am so glad it was plastic and not some other material, or my sweet daughter might no longer be with us. Nevertheless, I was thoroughly freaked out that she acted as if she had NO CLUE that outlets were dangerous. On to my dangerous: don't touch! lecture again. I know I've taught her this before, but obviously, once is NEVER enough.

So if you are reading this and you have young children, please take the time to reaquaint them with any household dangers: poison, outlets, knives, cold cereal, whatever. The whole kit and caboodle. Once is NEVER enough.


I first learned this a year ago when our family was on vacation. We were driving in the dark toward Carlsbad, New Mexico and all the kids were eating cold cereal for dinner in the back of the car. I asked them if they were done eating because they were playing around and goofing off, and Duckie answered, "What did you say? I can't hear really well because of these Kix stuck in my ears."

I thought she was joking. She wasn't.

Ensued a family emergency that has since become a classic family story that all the kids laugh about. But it wasn't funny at the time. Duckie stuck one kix in each ear, because she thought it would be funny. But then she couldn't get them back out. We tried with flashlight and tweezers to grab them, but they just fell further in. We arrived at the hotel in Carlsbad at 11 p.m. and tried to flush them out with water. I think it would have worked if Duckie had cooperated, but there was no way to convince her we were trying to help. She was in pure panic mode. So after talking to Manly's Dad who is a doctor, we elected to try and correct the problem at a Doctor's office in the morning instead of pulling an all-nighter at a hospital emergency room. Sure enough, next morning, the Doctor had no problem flushing the kix out of her ears with warm water. She was bribed with two lollipops to hold still. One lollipop for each ear. You can ask her about it today, and she will cheerfully tell you the whole story.

Because of that fiasco, we almost missed any chance to see the Carlsbad Caverns that we had driven so far out of our way to go see. The Dr. appt took so long that we got back in time to go with the very last tour of the caves before they closed everything down for the night.

Here is Manly holding Angel at the end of the long Carlsbad Cavern hike. We're in the carvern here and the photo is totally dark...you can't see any of the cool formations behind them.

That same morning, I found out to my chagrin who had taught Duckie to put kix in her ears. Einstein had done it first! Only difference is that he was able to get the kix out of his ears before we found out about Duckie. If he hadn't told me about it, I would never had known. Things you THINK your 9 year old son would know. So we drilled them "What do you put in your ears?" "Nothing!" they are supposed to reply.

Just a few months after this scenario, you think Duckie would have learned her lesson. But I found her sticking popcorn kernals up her nose! They almost got stuck, but we got lucky that time. When I asked her why she did it, she said she was trying to smell the popcorn smell on them, and when she stuck them up her nose they felt funny.

I think I'll stop asking "Why?" The answers from children never satisfy!

And if you ever happen to ask Angel why she did anything...no matter what it is, she'll always answer, "I don't know!" in the silliest tone of voice.

Here the whole family is at the famous UFO museum in ROSWELL, NM