Between Safety and Freedom

As my daughter learned to crawl and stand recently, me and my wife are beginning to face the dilemma all parents face at different stages of their children's growth - how to balance between protecting the child and letting her explore the world around her.

A typical day in our house would go something like this:-

• put her in the playpen (lasts between 5 to 15 minutes, 30 if you're lucky)
  
• put her on the walker (15 minutes at most)
• put her on the play area which, unfortunately, is not fenced out
• make her sit next to you on the sofa
• make her sit on the baby chair (the plastic one used for feeding) and give her some toys
• carry her around (her favourite, obviously)
  
• rotate through all the previous options

We used to be able to also put her on our bed, but nowadays she moves so fast we are worried we won't be able to catch her on time if she decides to check out the edges of the bed.

Add to all these the fact that she now grabs and puts in her mouth everything and anything, and we have our hands full taking care of her whenever we are at home :)

Although we look forward to her walking soon, that will also bring another new set of challenges. We will have to make sure all sharp edged furniture in the house are properly padded, and all electrical points covered properly.

Now I am beginning to understand why parenting is such a big responsibility.