Was It Wrong to Laugh?

We went to a party at my brother's house. It was a comfortably small party, with delicious food and good wine. After a time, all the other boys, ages 3 to 14, went outside to play in the back yard. Zane wanted to go with them. Larry said that he didn't want Zane to go outside, but I put a coat on Zane and let him go out with the other boys, who were playing soccer. I sat on the porch watching while Zane started running after the soccer ball that the other kids were kicking.

There are about 40,000 soccer balls(not kidding--I counted) in my brother's backyard. The other boys were running too fast for Zane, so he stopped and found another ball to play with. He was perfectly happy to kick his own ball instead of expecting the others to cater to him.

I cautioned the older boys about using the smaller ones as speed bumps, and that was the extent of my comments. Boys like to run and play, so let them run and play. The older boys made minor adjustments so as not to run over the little ones, and all was well. Zane did get knocked down one time when he ran in front of a teenager, but he was fine. I know this because I checked.

As we were driving home, I got to hear a lecture from Larry about how the older boys could have hurt Zane and we could have been going to the emergency room, etc. All the way home, I hear about how we should be careful so Zane doesn't get hurt, etc. I ended up feeling pretty rotten. I was being a terrible mom when I allowed Zane to run and play like that, is what I heard. (Perception being in the eye or ear of the beholder, and all that.)

After we get home, we all head upstairs to "put on the jammies", as Zane says. I pause in the bathroom to get my blood pressure medication. I hear Larry and Zane walking out of the bedroom, heading towar the stairs. I hear a thud, then Zane crying. I went to investigate.

After all that talk about being careful with Zane, my husband let Zane walk right into a wall.