Writer’s brain and kids

Photo by Quaz Amir on Pexels.com

This could happen in my brain. There would be a dragon off camera.

My brain has a hyper-active ‘what if’ response that I call writer’s brain. It tends to be dark because earning a happy ending is more satisfying.

Like today, on the side of the road a crane held up a light post they were fixing. I could picture it slamming down into traffic, smashing a car, and causing a massive pile up.

This was all fine for myself, but had become a bit of a nuisance when I had kids.

I had to stop watching horror. I had a hard enough time picturing the most horrible thing would happen to my kids that I didn’t need help coming up with new ideas. Walking on a balance beam equaled compound fractures or traumatic brain injury or even death.

Stuff like that does happen. I’ve read about it. The internet would never lie.

This weird territory. I want my kids to be independent and have experiences. I want them to be able to learn from their mistakes. But I also don’t want them to be a statistic. I want to wrap them in bubble wrap and hover over them.

I find myself weighing the odds of a particular scenario happening. How much is my writer’s brain going cra cra verses a probable outcome from the given situation?

If my kiddos jump off the two foot retaining wall, will they fall through a wormhole? No? Okay, then.

What do you do balance keeping kids safe, but letting them have adventures?

One thought on “Writer’s brain and kids

  1. So many things…parents cant do them all. What comes to mind – How about teaching them how to cross the street? That might take some stress off. Or Providing help for everything, like a skinned knee, or a running nose. Those are little things but if they are used to you helping, they might come to you for the big things. More stress off the plate.

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