Never the Right Worry
October 24, 2010
My 9 and 11 yr old sons both had football games today. Everytime they take the field, I worry. I worry about their legs, their arms, their necks and backs. I worry about their little brains sloshing around inside their skulls. I worry about them knocking out their teeth and breaking their noses. Even though they are padded up with protective gear, I worry.
Today my 9 yr old had a game at 11. He played the way he always does, like a posessed animal. He is aggressive and I wince often. He makes it off the field with limbs completely intact. I breathe a sigh of relief. And pat myself on the back that my worrying has averted yet another crisis.
Then my 11 yr old had a game at 1:00.
My 9 yr old tripped and fell at the stadium where his brother’s game was being played and BROKE HIS FRONT TOOTH IN HALF. A game where he was a spectator.
This is the irony of parenting. You spend countless hours worrying about things that never come to pass. It’s the shit you never think to worry about that gets you.
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Amen and Amen. My oldest broke a tooth because a friend decided to toss him a scooter.
October 25th, 2010 at 9:31 amSigh.
Hope you were not affected by any of the TX storms!
Isn’t that the truth? My son literally bit his tongue so badly he required surgery while he was watching his sister do gymnastics. I was thinking “Seriously??”
BTW- I also broke my front tooth in half at around the same age. The last time I had a cap put on was before my wedding almost 18 years ago. It has been no problem at all.
Hugs!
October 25th, 2010 at 9:36 amOooh..I hope it was a baby tooth?! I did it when I was in 6th grade…on picture day, no less! No, I have beautiful porcelin caps….
October 25th, 2010 at 9:45 amAargh! I sympathize. My son chipped a front tooth, not in half mind you, just 1/4, and my mind left my body and spun a few times when I saw that. Thank goodness for modern dentistry!!
October 25th, 2010 at 10:08 amIs it comforting at all to know that when I was 13 I slipped and fell while attempting to jump between two concrete benches, hit my head/tooth on one and broke my front tooth completely in half? Of course, 8 years later I’m not allowed to bite into apples with my front tooth for fear of ripping off the fake part…but aside from that I was/am fine! Sending good wishes your way that your son is similarly unharmed.
October 25th, 2010 at 10:36 amAmen sister! My 1 year old has been to the ER twice this year for some crazy things I never spent time worrying about. I hope your son’s tooth is OK.
October 25th, 2010 at 10:44 amI’m sorry, but I started to laugh aloud at that. I too at the tender age of nine broke my front tooth in half, merely by walking and tripping on pavement where I smashed in my face and said tooth. It looks like someone beat the shit out of me. To this day, I still have half a real and half a fake tooth that the dentists whip up a little special mix, fills it in and it looks just like my real tooth. The glue eventually gives away and with your teeth changing and shifting as you grow older, don’t be surprised if it pops out many times in the coming years. I’m 32 now and the last time I got it filled was after a drunken night in college when it popped out after I clanked my tooth with a beer bottle, so I’ve got a 12 year streak going. Someday I’ll get it pulled and replaced with a “real” fake tooth but alas that will cost a fortune!
Good luck with that and the years to come:)
October 25th, 2010 at 11:03 amMy son broke his front tooth in half when he was 5 playing nerf guns. I guess my boys think that when you play nerf you should also through big huge balls at each other’s heads, knocking the hard gun into my son’s mouth. Unfortunately it was his grown up tooth and now at least once a year we have to get it glued back on. I am trying to prepare myself for the day it comes out again and we can’t find it. I hope you have better luck than us with the tooth staying on.
October 25th, 2010 at 11:17 amWhen my middlest was nine he was riding his bike. He had on his helmet and pads - he hit a rock and the bike went over and he broke his front tooth. I worried about the wrong body parts there. I’m still paying that tooth repair off with more to come as he gets older.
October 25th, 2010 at 11:49 amINDEED. Someone should print that in the front of ever baby/parenting book.
October 25th, 2010 at 11:52 amOh no! That sucks. Hope he’s ok.
October 25th, 2010 at 11:59 amMy 10 year old son knocked out a permanent tooth (root & all, G.R.O.S.S.!) playing football at recess five weeks ago. Of course, at recess they don’t wear protective gear… he has had stitches several times & everyone says that’s because he plays hockey. Yeah, except that none of the stitches have been caused while he was playing hockey. I would love to sit him in a corner & wrap him in bubble wrap until he turns 18… or send him out each day in full hockey or football protective gear. Of course this was the 1st year he had played football and he actually played ONE game of the season before he knocked out that tooth, then no contact & season was over for him. I have a beautiful pair of cleats that I’m sure won’t fit next year… thankful we rented the rest of the equipment instead of purchased. =) He did score a TD in the one game he played though. His recovery from the tooth incident seems to be “best case” according to the dentist, so that’s a plus. Thought of you today when I heard about the TX weather. Not sure what part of TX you’re in, but I hope it’s tornado free.
October 25th, 2010 at 12:02 pmHoly crap!
October 25th, 2010 at 12:21 pmTruer words were never spoken.
October 25th, 2010 at 12:25 pmTruer words were never spoken.
October 25th, 2010 at 1:36 pmAnd THAT’S the truth!
October 25th, 2010 at 2:10 pmperhaps a helmet should be worn at all times.
October 25th, 2010 at 3:07 pmYou couldn’t have said it better.
October 25th, 2010 at 6:24 pmI once visited the ER three times, with three different children in under 5 hours. The baby at the time, tripped and hit her head on the sidewalk requiring 8 stitches to the forehead. My father in law was at home with the oldest two. I pulled up to the house, took the baby out of the car and he meets me with the middle child, who had shoved a splinter from the deck, under her toenail, through the nailbed and out at the base of her big toe. So, back to the same ER, with the same doctors and nurses to have a small tree and her toenail removed. As we are all sitting on the deck discussing the irony of two ER visits in 3 hours, the oldest hooks a bungee cord to the deck rail and starts pulling. As the words “Stop before you need stitches too!” left my mouth, the end comes unhooked and slices a gash to her inner thigh. So, same ER, same doctors, sames nurses, same bloody shirt covering my 7 months pregnant with twins belly, different child! 22 stitches, many tears and a visit from the social worker later, and I was finally able to tuck them into bed, mix myself a STIFF drink, and wait for my nightly call from Afghanistan. The phone rings, I answer, and it’s the love of my life and the provider of our much used insurance. The first words out of his mouth were, “I’m okay but I got shot today while on patrol.” We fondly call it the WORST DAY EVER!
October 25th, 2010 at 6:26 pmOh..and just for the record…the stiff drink was chamomille tea!
October 25th, 2010 at 6:29 pmMy son did rodeo all through high school. He rode saddle bronc and got bucked off all the time. But the broken collar bone he got last year? Fell over a bale of hay feeding our horses. What are the odds? Now my younger son wants to ride bulls. I will not have any hair left by then.
October 25th, 2010 at 6:55 pmAmen, sister!
October 25th, 2010 at 7:15 pmBoys and all their broken things - arms, legs, nose, toys, your favorite lamp, a dish from the good set of china, all unavoidable, all a part of life you never see coming. The worst is the first broken heart, the one you as a parent could see coming, you just couldn’t do anything about it.
October 25th, 2010 at 7:35 pmBubbles, put them all in bubbles till they are 21, it is the only way to prevent injury. (the kids I know would probably run the bubble through the french doors, down the stairs out onto the street!)
October 25th, 2010 at 7:52 pmAwww poor kid! Sorry to hear.
October 25th, 2010 at 7:59 pmThis is the irony of parenting. You spend countless hours worrying about things that never come to pass. It’s the shit you never think to worry about that gets you.
Yup. Yupyupyup. And it kind of ups my anxiety too, because my brain says that if only I’d *thought to worry about it* it wouldn’t have happened.
I know that’s stupid, but it sure seems true!
October 25th, 2010 at 9:10 pmUggh. How terrible! Hope he’s feeling better soon.
If it helps at all, Liam, at the ripe old age of 2, has knocked out both front teeth already. One boy is killing me… Not sure how you’ve survived 6 of them.
October 25th, 2010 at 9:29 pmUnfortunately, I think to worry about ALL of the shit.
I’m so sorry about your son’s poor little tooth.
October 25th, 2010 at 10:35 pm@Jess- And a mouth guard.
October 25th, 2010 at 11:00 pmI know exactly what you mean. My second child was walking across the street to her friend’s house tripped and fell and broke her arm. She is my daredevil. I am always telling her to stop doing some crazy stunt or another. She has never gotten a scratch (knock on wood) from any of that but walking across the street obviously causes bodily harm and is extremely dangerous.
October 25th, 2010 at 11:32 pmSo true!!!!
October 26th, 2010 at 10:44 amAin’t that the truth!!! Awww- hope the repair work isn’t extensive. Where are the helmets when really needed - every day living!
October 26th, 2010 at 11:54 amSoo true!! I worried and worried about some sleep study issue with the 2yr old and the darn 4yr old went and broke his pacemaker just to spite me. I’m always looking the wrong way.. lol
October 26th, 2010 at 1:35 pmOMG broken teeth is my single greatest non-fatal fear when it comes to my kids, and I am quite certain that it is my worrying that saved the other half of your son’s tooth. Yikes, I am barely over your older son breaking his nose on the lawn mower.
October 27th, 2010 at 1:38 ammy daughter fell out of a chair a couple of years ago and her face broke her fall. broke her front tooth in half and bit through her lip. The rebonding looks fantastic and she has no problems. Hopefully the root wasnt involved.
October 27th, 2010 at 9:00 am