Yesterday Leilani and I took down all the christmas ornaments off the tree. Leilani was extremely good and very careful, but still one ornament broke. That brings the toll from this entire, long-lasting Christmas season up to two, and I broke the first one. This time it was one of her favorites, a Santa with 2 little dogs and it broke after it had been taken down and put away safely because Leilani wanted to look at it one more time and dropped it while unwrapping. She was very sad (at least she said so) and did not touch any of the thin glass ornaments after, which was just fine with me. She then sorted the other ornaments into wooden stars and shiny small things and put them in 2 separate bags. After about 10 more minutes she lost interest and ran off.
She had taken down about a dozen or so glass balls before the Santa broke, and I was in another one of my parenting conflicts. The main stream parenting magazines advise to keep Christmas trees away from toddlers and preschoolers (fences in your living room yay!) and even my own mom was angry at my grandma for letting me play with glass christmas ornaments, some of my friends and acquaintances don’t let their kids handle any glass or china including dishes (never mind the orange juice on the carpet, as long as it’s spilled from a plastic cup)… you get the picture.
My own theory is, that she needs to learn at some point, preferably at exactly the right time. I do not want to discourage her from things she thinks she can do herself, that are not likely to land her in the emergency room. Think about it: how dangerous is glass break if you are right next to it and watch carefully? At least compared to a typical 2 year temper tantrum that makes them throw themselves against or at random things, or running at full speed and in socks around the kitchen corner, or swinging, or jumping on the trampoline with 4-year old friends or sitting in a car. Or living and breathing in a polluted, contaminated environment or talking to strangers…
Leilani knows since she is less than one year old what glass is, and that you’d better not throw it. She knows that fragile things break even when we squeeze them too hard, and she remembers these things. I don’t believe the theory that toddlers can’t remember; maybe if you only tell them, but if they experience the sound of glass breaking (terrifying to Leilani btw), the sadness of a toy being crumpled or stepped on to breakage they do remember.
And no, Christmas Tree Undecorating is not one word in German, but two :-)
