FREE FEET CARRY ME TO HAPPINESS

A few questions appeared after the last post: “The charms of my childhood”. (https://littlepuzzlesandme.com/the-charms-of-my-childhood/) . And here we go, below I answer the most important ones:

First question

“Are you not afraid that a child running around without shoes may be at risk of being bitten by an insect?”

“Yes and No”.

I try to look back and remember my childhood, how many times I ran without shoes, and how many times I was bitten by ants, stung by nettles, and hurt by sharp stones, and I still feel the joy of running without shoes. My only fear is that my child will suffer because, like any mother, you would prefer for your child to spend his childhood without the slightest injury, but I don’t think that’s possible.

Second question

“Aren’t you afraid that your child eats overripe, unripe and contaminated fruit straight from the bush?

I have tried green strawberries, gooseberries, or other unripe fruits many times in my childhood. just to make sure they’re not as good as ripe. and as for the ripe fruit, it happened to be a rotten apple but you bit it around and it was ok. The best of my childhood memories is eating plums or cherries, and later finding out from grandma that you have to check them before eating because they are wormy.

I am not afraid of contaminated fruits because we live in a mountainous area with few cars and other means of transport. We are surrounded by mountains and forests, and get the most natural resources from these areas. Depending on the season, the forests are full of gifts of nature, wild strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, mushrooms and everything you can eat at a given time of the year.

Third question

“What about children playing in water that may be dirty?“

We are surrounded by clean streams in which we swim in the summer. We play in a river that is visited by thousands of fish and frogs that live there all year round. We drink water from the clear stream that fills our well. The water is really clean until the kids start building mud fortresses or moving stones to make dams.

Fourth question

“Aren’t you afraid of your child’s allergic reaction after being bitten by an insect or eating wild fruit?”

That’s what I feared the most. In my childhood, all the children around me ate what they wanted and did what they wanted without fear of allergic effects. But I know that the world is changing and our genetics are changing, so there are more allergic problems. Fortunately, my children have already been bitten by different types of insects and have eaten many types of wild fruits without allergic symptoms.

Fift question

“You give your children too much freedom, you do not control them during the daytime”

I don’t want my kids stuck in a safe bubble thinking about whether bees will bite them in the summer or not. I do not want to deprive my children of the freedom and fun I remember most from childhood.

I know that every parent and every child is different. And I know there are parents who don’t take their eyes off their children and I know there are parents who don’t control their children so much. But this is an individual choice for us as parents.

Summation

I don’t want to see my children climb tall trees, but I did it myself as a child, I don’t want to see my children jump over high fences, but I did it as a child. In short, it’s better not to watch what the kids are doing, or I’d panic or have nightmares. Childhood is in a sense a time of freedom and fun for children, and for parents, a time of fear and panic to come back home safe and sound. You have to look at it from the children’s perspective. How happy it makes them to run on the warm grass without shoes, how much joy bathing in streams gives them, how their faces dirty with wild fruits gleam with happiness in the sun. And I think that’s it, the answers to most of the questions of stressed parents are written on our children’s faces.