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Parenting lessons from Colorado balloon boy
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You’ve all heard by now. For several hours our nation sat transfixed as intensive rescue efforts were launched to find a six year old boy presumed to be alone on board a helium balloon accidentally launched in Colorado. Thankfully, he was found hiding in his parents’ garage several hours later. As I write this piece, the whole story is yet to be told. But there are several compelling lessons to be gleaned from this event.
It’s only natural to ask why a young boy would hide in a box for two hours “because his father yelled at him”. Perhaps, it was simply fear and he couldn’t bear to tell his parents the truth about what happened. Keep in mind that for young children (and occasionally adults), sometimes curiosity trumps fear, and they find themselves in a pickle. But should children be so terrified that they can’t confess to an incident of wrongdoing, however great the magnitude? We must all ask ourselves if we’ve given our kids permission to admit that they made a mistake (in judgment or otherwise). And remind them that we love them, can forgive them, and will make sure that they learn from their experiences.
Then, there’s the question of parental supervision. Can we watch our children every minute of the day and never let them out of our sight? That’s probably unreasonable to expect, but there is a certain degree to which a parent must anticipate potential danger, and take the necessary precautions. We all held our breath as we awaited the outcome of young Falcon’s saga which conjured up our fear about an accident (or something worse) happening to our own children. Moral of the story: teach your kids to know right from wrong, discuss the dangers out there, and reassure them that we all make mistakes.
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