Sprained Ankle

My 6 year old daughter E was playing at summer camp a while ago when my wife was trying to get her to leave. She was having a little bit too much fun and was reluctant to leave the playground. That’s when disaster struck.

Her and her 4 year-old brother C were standing up on the spinning wheel thingy in the playground. Because they wouldn’t leave, my wife went in to grab their stuff in the classroom and by the time she came out, E fell off the spinning wheel thingy and hurt her ankle. At first, it wasn’t bad and she ended up being able to walk home. By the time we got home, she was complaining that her ankle really hurt.

Over the next few days, we had her take it easy. She stayed home from summer camp and was really sad about missing her beach field trip. She also had to miss swim class and soccer. We were worried that she was going to miss the start of her artistic swimming camp. She got to stay home and watch some TV while getting some quality time with Mommy, but she really wanted her ankle to be fine. So did we.

I’ve started to reframe how I say things to the kids. Instead of saying that she is learning the hard way, I say that life is going to teach you a lesson until you learn it. The lesson was that when my wife said it was time to go, she should have left right away and not run around on the spinning wheel thingy. If she made a better choice, she wouldn’t have hurt her ankle. I kept reemphasizing that over the next few days so that hopefully next time a situation like this comes up, she chooses to listen instead of goof off.

Luckily, by the start of the following week, she was able to heal enough to start her artistic, swimming camp, which she was really excited about. I was bummed I didn’t get to drop her off, but I’m glad that she was able to go have that experience. Hopefully the next time we won’t have to sweat it out over a sprained ankle because she’ll make a better choice when it’s time to go.