Where This Mom Draws the Line: Part Deux
My last post was about where I draw the line when it comes to what I will and will not do for my kids. Hereâs a quick look back:
âWhen we become mothers we give and give up so much of ourselves for our children. We do it willingly. We do it with love. But, I think there is a point where you have to draw the line, a line in the sand, so to speak, where you, as a mother, decide, âI wonât give up this or I wonât do that for you, my darling child.â”
“My ‘line in the sand’ is video games. I will not play video games with my kids. I pack the lunches, chaperone field trips, dig under the bed for dirty socks, feed the dog when they forget, I will not ‘kick their butts,’ as they like to say, at Mario Kart.â?
For Part Deux, I will let you know what I wonât let my kids have, buy, or be given. It may seem harsh, it may seem asinine, but if you think about it, youâll know I am right and you just might follow suit.
I wonât let my kids have balloons. Yes, balloons. Donât judge me too harshly just yet. I know youâre thinking, “Come on, Annie! First you tell us you wonât play video games with your kids, now we find out you wonât let them have balloons?! Next you will tell us you wonât take them to the carnival either!â?
Yes, that is true I have a beef with the traveling carnival, too, but that is another post for another day. Today, we are talking about balloons.
Balloons are one of the cruelest things that you could give to your child, because balloons always end in tears. Think about it. Balloons pop, fly away, or die a long and languishing death in a corner somewhere. If it doesnât pop in their face causing possible ear and eye damage, it will sail into the great blue yonder without a look back or it deflates. Once bright, full, and flighty the balloon now dips, swoons, and then dives leaving a wrinkled choking hazard on the bedroom floor.
In the second grade I went to a birthday party. The birthday girl was blowing up an orange balloon when being beyond its capacity of frosting-scented air, the balloon burst. She inhaled a part of it and started to choke. Ten of her closest classmates stood there in shock and horror, while her mom performed the Heimlich maneuver. After what seemed like an eternity, the offending piece of broken, orange balloon finally came up along with some masticated and partial digested yellow birthday cake with pink frosting.
I know itâs a lonely stance I take. When we are at street fairs or the mall and there is someone handing out balloons, my kids will give me that, âCan we, Ma?â? look. When I politely refuse, the well-meaning balloon-hander-outer says, âIts okay, theyâre free.â? As if Iâm some cheap mamajama, who refuses to dig in the bottom of her purse for change to pay for a crummy balloon that says, âBobâs Mortgage Shop.â?
No, my beef with balloons has nothing to do with finances. I love my little ones to much to hand over them something that I know, without a doubt, will inevitably end in heartbreak. I think of it as protecting them from the inevitable. There are so many things we canât protect our kids from, but with balloons I can draw the line, build the wall and then run barbed wire over the top.
Now itâs your turn. What wonât you let your kids have? Toy guns, Cheetos, or how about hair extensions?
I agree, balloons are very dangerous for kids. I have heard of people inhaling parts of balloons. It is just down right scary.
Balloons are also really hard on wildlife. Those balloons that float away eventually land somewhere and then are eaten by animals. Balloons then can can choke, smother, or cause starvation in animals. Balloons are definitely on my list of items our son will never have.
http://www.thecommonrheas.com
i’m with you on the no playing mario also balloons are a waste, yes i agree! Having raised and still raising girls in our home… i will not buy or pay for acrilic nails—do i have them yes- but i didn’t start getting them till i could afford them myself well into my 30′s and there is no way i will be dishing out the $$$ on a regualr basis for this kind of teenage pampering—not even for birthdays or special occassions!
I don’t do carnivals. I don’t allow my children to either. I don’t play video games with them and I restrict their time to once every few months or so.
I won’t let my kids have a trampoline. They are dangerous and I am not willing to take the chances that are in abundance. I am sooooooo mean. I know it. They can break their leg by falling out of tree. Not on the trampoline.
You made your case well, Annie. I will never again look at a balloon or a mortgage shop without also seeing masticated cake.
For us, sodas are rare. Root beer or Sprite on special occasions, but no colas.
My kids even say no on their own now
.
THere’s not a lot I don’t let my kids do, but one of them is sleepovers. I just don’t believe in them. Latenights work for us.
I never thought of balloons like that – that would’ve been traumatic to see a friend nearly asphyxiate before your eyes.
Wow, come to think of it, many of our balloon escapades have ended in tears…and, they are dangerous to wildlife and people. What are your feelings about mylar balloons? We occasionally pick these up from the $1 store…
Just wrote a post about the circus – we won’t be going back: http://thecolemine.wordpress.com/2008/06/17/over-the-top/
Barbies! Arrgh – all those tiny shoes and bizarre outfits. And why do they always end up naked?
http://thingsnoonetellsyou.blogspot.com/
Shannon- It’s a slippery slope, my friend, and mylar is not biodegradeable.
Beeeeeeee- Naked and with matted hair. I tossed all the Barbies out on their naked cans a couple of years ago. Mini Me has never asked about them. Hooray for Littlest Pet Shop!
Mrs. Organic- I hear ya on sleepovers!
Karen- Amen and amen.
Pedaling- You are one smart cookie. If they can’t afford to pay for their own toilet paper, they shouldn’t have acrylic nails.
Klin- I am with you on the trampoline thing.
Lori- I wish I could join you on your soda ban. I’ll work on it.
No hotdogs! Yuck!
When I was younger I liked the mylar balloons and even pinned them up over my bed for decoration. As I got older, and along the way eventually threw them out, I had developed an ambivalence to balloons.
I don’t really care either way, but my personal thoughts on not getting balloons are that the money could be spent on something so much more meaningful rather than a plastic item declaring the fact that you’re getting older as we all do. every.single.day.
My SIL, who is also a nurse, GAVE US HER TRAMPOLINE!! I let it blow away down into the river bottoms with the next big storm. Never to be seen again.
I won’t let the boys (and probably not my girl either)
color their hair…..final word.
I caved last Christmas and bought a game console. I don’t even think RockBand could take back that regret. Although I do like playing RockBand with them.
I don’t like balloons for the same reasons- especially the choking. I remember one Sunday the nursery leader brought a lot of balloons for the kids to kick around. I had to be the party pooper in the primary presidency and get rid of them. I’m not taking the chance.
I only play GUitar Hero and Dance Dance Revolution. I think you’d like DDR.
Bratz dolls, Bratz clothes, Bratz anything. I HATE it! I despise the marketing angle and I refuse to buy it for my 7 year old. She adores it, and has it with her dad, but not at my house! I won’t promote that!!!
I’m a pretty open mom and allow most things, but Bratz (and alot of rap) isn’t allowed around me. Ick.
Hey, if it is a free balloon… =)
I refuse to give my children the pleasure of waking up with gum in their hair by refusing to let them chew gum. I hate the nasty stuff. I didn’t give birth to cows that chew cud and leave it stuck on the floor for me to pick up. However, I know allow my oldest to chew it outside on rare RARE occasions. But if I see it, out it goes. My kids are even good about going through their Halloween candy to give me all the gum.
And, like Suzanne, I refuse to allow Bratz or anything resembling a Bratz in anyway into our home or in my child’s hands. Even the real prostitutes in our town dress better than the Bratz.
Balloons are a staple of the Devil’s toy shop, fer sure!
You know what is the most evil of balloon evil? The ones that get twisted into looking like little weiner dogs and the ones that look like swords. It encourages children to think that weenie dogs and swords are interchangeable and that they can pick up a poor hapless Dachsund to use as a weapon in the middle of battle.
That is just WRONG!
I won’t allow my kids to have a cell phone until the age of 15 or 16…actually, closer to 16. No negotiation whatsoever!
No balloons?! My baby loves them! Though if I’m buying it has to be the big punchable ones that don’t pop, easily, anyways.
We’re pretty laid back with our baby – growing up in Mozambique, there is already so much she doesn’t get, so we don’t have any strict nos . . .