Keeping our child inside “the bubble”
This is a relatively long post. Keli and I both contribute to our posts on Facebook and Instagram. FYI, Neither of us has a journalism background. Both of us are just 2 parents raising our first born. Keli gives her Moms spin on some posts, and I provide the Dads on others. We both decided to separately write a post about protecting our son from everyday dangers and keeping him in that proverbial bubble. Here’s what we came up with. It’s good to know we are on the same page 😀
From Keli:
As we are on our journey exploring the United States, our number one priority is the safety and well-being of our child. While we want to keep Shea safe from this big, bad world, we are striving to show him the good and beautiful parts and people of our country.
While we understand the thoughts on keeping children “in a bubble,” we have chosen not to do so.
Henry and I are not private people, for the most part. We each enjoy telling our stories of our own experiences and adventures and are open to sharing our hardships and how we have made it through them. Henry is the jokester of the family and loves when everyone around him is laughing…he is not one bit shy in a crowd.
Also, we don’t want to raise our child to be afraid of the world around him. There is good and evil in this world, no matter where you are or how much you protect yourself. We know that Shea will encounter evils throughout his lifetime, and we believe that teaching him how to respond to and experience each will help him to grow stronger. In the same light, we want to enjoy all of the good that is around us and continue learning through the bad.
Most importantly to us, as parents, Henry and I want Shea to follow his own love of adventure and nature and to continue to be active. Shea has loved to be outdoors since he was an infant. We were living just south of Charlotte, NC (Fort Mill, SC) when Shea was born. Henry and I both had these “Ants in Our Pants” when Shea was just a few weeks old. We spent time in the warm southern weather going on walks, going to a disc golf park with my brother, eating on the outdoor patios at restaurants, and just rocking Shea to sleep on our back deck. Maybe we engrained the ‘love of the outdoors’ into him. Being outside and NOT stuck “in a bubble” indoors is what makes ALL three of us happy.
Our original intentions with this blog were solely to keep family and friends up-to-date. However, as we have gotten further into our adventures, we realized that we could be an inspiration to another family, or to show our experiences and thoughts to others who may not be able to get to the places we go. In sharing our experiences, we share our family, and our most precious possession…, Shea!
From Henry:
It’s a crazy world with some crazy people, but to focus on those isolated few is honestly too much negativity for me.
I believe that we can’t let fear dictate our choices in life. I want our son to be a risk taker, explorer, discoverer, and an independent child. I want him to fall down on his hikes, get dirty, but brush it off, get back up and move forward. I obviously don’t want him to hurt in ANY way but know that’s not realistic. I’m not going to let him play with a knife to teach him a lesson but will let him grab the cats tail after I repeatedly tell him no. They’ll show him what’s up !!
We’re raising him to be brave, to step out of his comfort zone (does he even have a comfort zone yet??!!) to say hi to everyone, even strangers because it makes them smile which in return makes him smile.
I’m sure we will continue to have moments where we want to put him in this bubble, but for the most part…just go go go and be an almost 2-year-old and do what almost 2-year-olds do.
PS. If I had a daughter…This may be a different post because I may keep her in a bubble until she was 30. 😜 hahaha